Gathering the Strongest Seven
by Mizuki99
Summary: "Let me put it this way, my little wildcat—what have you got to lose?" Those words would be the death of him because of how true they rang. What did he have to lose? Well, one thing was for certain. He had no idea what he was getting himself into. Arcobaleno AU. Arcobaleno27. Rating due to change. Revision complete. New chapter posted.
1. Prologue p1 (Invitation)

**_Author's Note: _**Revised 5/16/15

Hope you like the new version xp I know I do~

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><p><em><strong>Sun<strong>_

Today had been a long day, Reborn thought as he keyed open his door. Too long for his liking, at least. How many people had stood in his way? Twenty? Thirty? He lost count… they were all nameless, faceless enemies to him in the end so what did it matter? Just another pin on the board.

But it had still felt like it would never end.

He dropped his keys in the disk specifically placed by the door for that purpose before going into his office. His apartment was two-bedroom, one room being an office and the other being his sleeping quarters. The walls had dark-wood paneling the lower half while the upper half was painted a masculine shade of orange-peach that complimented the wood well. The paneling covered the living room, the hallway and his bedroom but his office had a more modern feel to it with a black-glass topped desk and a bulky looking computer off to the side. Beside Reborn, his lizard Tavi scuffled onto the leaf of his Fichus and he ran a finger along the underside of his chin.

It would seem that his never-ending day was only about to get longer, he mused, because he was not alone.

He drew his gun and aimed it at where he knew the intruder to be. "Show yourself and I will not kill you immediately." He stated calmly, making his intention clear. He was not in the mood to play games tonight.

"Well, well, you are an impressive one, aren't you? To be able to sense me despite my presence not being on this plane..." That voice aggravated him for some reason. Reborn watched as the air rippled and became thick with humidity. _Mist Flames_. "It would seem that you _are_ worthy, after all..." The masked man in front of him mused.

"Worthy of what?" Reborn asked, shifting his stance.

"Why… worthy of my power, of course."

"Power? What kind of power? Who are you? On who's behalf were you sent?" Reborn demanded, firing question after question. He wanted them all answered. The masked man reached into his suit and Reborn fired off a shot in warning.

"Don't be in such a hurry to shoot me, I'm only showing you what I want to give you." He flicked up a pacifier. "You see? It's so much more important than it looks… and I want you to have one."

"Why?" Reborn asked.

"In due time… but first, you have to meet the others!" The masked man sniggered.

"Others?" Reborn cocked his head.

"Of course. There are six others. You can go here to meet them." He set a map down on Reborn's desk. "I do hope you'll take a liking to them. They _are_ important, after all."

"Important how? What do you want with us?"

The masked man tutted again. "Patience, patience, it will all be revealed in due time… until then… _enjoy the missions._ I picked them out _especially_ for the seven of you."

And then Reborn was left alone.

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><p><em><strong>Sky<strong>_

Tsunayoshi's feet were sore.

Putting his caramel macchiato on top of the Styrofoam container full of his dinner, or rather breakfast considering it was his first meal of the day, Tsunayoshi shouldered the door open and kicked it shut behind him. He winced when it closed with a bit too hard and bits of plaster fell from the run down building.

His apartment was far from being the Ritz and kind of clashed with his well done appearance but it was homey and quiet and while it wasn't in the middle of the city, it did have a nice view. His bedroom window did overlook the nighttime skyline and that was all he could ask for. Now, many would be wondering what is a fifteen year old boy doing working at a bar in the middle of Germany when he was supposed to be going to school on a daily basis… the answer is simple.

Tsunayoshi was not a normal teenager.

Sixteen years of age, Tsunayoshi lived a delicate but balanced double life. By day, he lived in the run down part of the city which, at one point, was once full of life and color but was now sagging, the businesses on this side of town sat empty and abandoned, and several open fields lay barren of the once great factories that helped drive the economy. That was alright though. The rent was cheap and no one really bothered him and with his line of work, not being bothered was the best thing there was. In the light, he was an information broker working for the German branch of the Mafia… but by night, after the sun had set, Tsunayoshi had another job—one he preferred if he was honest about it.

He was an assassin.

His body was similar to that of a dancer—flat stomach, long legs that went from here to there, toned arms and an attractively childish face. His hair was springy and copper with a tail that crimped up around the ends and only added to his regal appearance.

The door clicked shut behind him and the brunet sighed. "Just another day in paradise…" He murmured in fluent Italian. He didn't know why he favored that language over the others. He just did. Maybe it was because that was the first language outside of Japanese that he actually learned to speak fluently? Either way…

His most recent hit had been a success. The target was dead. The kill had been quick, efficient, and marked. It was a specialty kill—his signature (which consisted of strangulation via almost invisible wire). Artemis and Solune, his clawed-gloves, had done the job well. He used them to control the wire that he kept in a compartment on the back of the gloves. The claws allowed him to feel the vibrations in the wires when he used them for purposes outside of killing.

But they weren't his only weapons. He had another—a shape-shifting chameleon by the name of Leon. Tsunayoshi had gotten him on a joint mission in Monte Carlo, along with a few pretty little marks that he hid using a generic form of Mist Flames. He had been working with an assassin by the name of Tyr at the time. He was the leader of a shadow organization within the Vongola internally referred to as the Varia. And when the mission was over, Tsunayoshi dropped a building on the man's head. It hadn't killed him but he was fairly certain the man would think twice about double crossing someone who saved his ass from certain death again.

As he walked in, Tsunayoshi felt a prickle at the back of his mind, alerting him to the fact that he wasn't alone despite the fact that his other senses told him nothing. Leon crawled out from under his hair and transformed. Tsunayoshi spun around and pointed his now transformed weapon at the shadows where he knew his guest was. "Reveal yourself." Tsunayoshi said in German, his voice pitching low.

"I do not wish to harm you." The male's voice said pleasantly in Italian. Tsunayoshi blinked and shifted his stance to a defensive one but kept the gun trained on the person who stepped out of the shadows. "I wish to… employ your services."

"Services?" Tsunayoshi murmured, mimicking his language of choice. "What kind of services?"

"Ah," The man stepped out of the shadows, smiling pleasantly despite his intimidating appearance. He was clad in an iron mask and a red coat. He reached into his coat pocket and Tsunayoshi tensed. "Tell me, are you familiar with the _I Prescelti Sette_?"

The Chosen Seven? "Never heard of them," He stated.

"No… you probably wouldn't have." He said dismissively. "There is a meeting in a week's time in Florence, Italy. I would like very much for you to be there. The pay will be good and the missions even better. I'll send you the details later, should you be interested."

"And why, Mr. Masked Man, would I do such a thing?" Tsunayoshi asked flippantly. He hadn't lowered his weapon but he had dropped his guard, knowing he could get it up again fast enough to defend against any attacks this stranger may have planned.

The man snickered softly sounding more pleased than malicious. "Let me put it this way, my sweet little wildcat," He stepped forward and put a hand on Tsunayoshi's gun, lowering it and reaching up with his cane to tilt Tsunayoshi's face up so he could look into piercing amber eyes. "What have you got to lose?"

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><p><em><strong>Cloud<strong>_

The crowds were screaming as he plummeted from a thousand feet down into a burning pool of water on a motorcycle. It felt _great_. The impact of the water only heightened that thought. He held on to the sinking bike long enough to worry the crowd as he always did but when he burst through the surface of the water, he crowed with delight causing those screams to turn into cheers. This was the _life_!

He loved preforming, Skull the Immortal Man thought. He loved _all of this!_

"That was _freaking awesome!_" Derek Sullivan, his manager said with a grin. "You brought in some major bucks with tonight's preformance. Are you going to the races tonight?"

"Damn straight I am," Skull said, drying out his dark locks. "Are you coming with me as my wing-man?"

"Not tonight, buddy, I got the wife breathing down my neck." Derek grinned apologetically before he slid passed Skull. "Get cleaned up, man, and I'll give you a ride to the garage. Oh, and there's someone in your dressing room to see you!" He pointed back at the door before he disappeared into the stadium to finish clean-up.

Skull rolled his shoulders. Strange… he couldn't _sense_ anyone in his dressing room but then maybe they were hiding their presence…

He froze and dropped to the ground just in time for a leg to swipe right where his head had been. That kick would have snapped his neck!

"You _are_ a fast one. I was beginning to have my doubts." Skull turned to see…

A masked man? What the fuck?

"Dude, what's with the get-up? I hate to break it to you but that kind of thing don't fly here." Skull put the towel back on his head and dropped into his chair. "So what is it you wanted? Book a stunt? Book a race? God forbid, book a night in a hotel room?"

"No, no, nothing like that… I just thought that you might like to _expand your horizon_, so to speak."

"Oh?" Skull spun in his chair to face the freak with the mask.

"There is going to be a meeting of all of the elite—the best of the best. I want _you_ to be there."

"Why?" Skull asked. He wasn't strong physically. He couldn't fight. He could drive and he could withstand an amazing amount of pain before his body collapsed. The closest he could come to fighting was completely deflecting an attack and sustaining no damage. That was it. Other than that, he was pathetically weak. How was that considered elite?

"You have a unique ability to absorb quite a bit of damage without your body breaking down under the pressure. _That_ makes you elite."

"I doubt that." Skull said dryly. "But hey, what the hell? Why not? Where is this meeting?"

"Here," he handed him a small map. "I do hope you'll show. I'm sure you'll have _much_ to gain from it..."

When Skull looked up, he was gone. He looked around the room but didn't find him. He looked back down at the map and licked his lips.

_Maybe..._

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><p><em><strong>Rain<strong>_

Lal hated the three-hundred foot trek it took to get to her car in the middle of the night when she was delivering paperwork for Tyr. She hated the night shifts because the parking lot always felt eerie and she always felt like she was never alone. That was why she carried a handgun in the purse she carried for appearances.

It was on nights like this that she was extra thankful for the protection, even if she had other weapons on her.

She froze, scanning her surroundings. "Who's there?" She demanded. "Nocturna, is that you?" Her Mist counterpart liked to scare her in the middle of the night…

She dismissed it as paranoia until she got to her car and felt unease prickle against the back of her neck. She tried to spin around but hands held her face in place so that she was looking up at a masked face. "Who are you?" She demanded, glaring daggers at the man.

"Not an enemy." He released her but she was far from free. Something held her hostage against the leather seats of her sedan. She thrashed wildly, trying to get free. "You need something to relax." There was a puff of smoke blown in her face and her limbs became lethargic.

"What did you do to me?" Lal asked, breathless.

"It's a minor sedative. It won't knock you out. It's only… relaxing you." Whatever was tying her down disappeared. "There's a going to be a gathering of the strongest in all of the Mafia hosted by the Giglio Nero and you have been invited."

Lal froze. The Strongest Seven. She'd heard whispers of the former Chosen Seven but had never paid it any detail. "What's the catch?"

She could feel that cat-caught-the-canary smile even if she couldn't see it. "No catch."

She didn't believe him.

"Come on, now, what's it going to hurt?" The masked man said, slipping a piece of paper in her hand. "That is the location of the meeting, should you choose to show up. I'd be absolutely delighted if you would… in fact, I might be willing to give you more of that _sedative_ I gave you if you showed up."

"Tch… as if I'd show up for _that_." Lal snarled, whipping around to try and kick the masked man only to find that he was no longer in the back seat of her car and she was left alone.

She looked down at the map and frowned. Florence, huh?

She'd have to see if she could get the time off…

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><p><em><strong>Lightning<strong>_

Verde didn't venture outside of his labs much anymore. He didn't see the point. The outside world had very little to offer in the means of research and intelligence. Everyone followed a path, followed the law, followed the masses… it was all repetitive. He hated it, hated following things blindly…

So he stayed in his labs and worked on his experiments and research. He dove into his work, invented things that no one thought possible…

Until one day, there was a knock at his door.

It was such a strange sound, something he hadn't heard in a long time, and for one moment, he thought that he made the whole thing up… and then it happened again and a voice followed it. "Doctor Verde, are you in?"

Oh… it was his loudmouth assistant.

Verde dragged his lazy limbs out of bed and stumbled clumsily to the door to unlock it. His assistant walked in. "Doctor Verde, you really need to take better care of yourself." She helped him up and got him dressed. "You have a visitor." She said, wheeling his chair into the central part of his office.

"Hello, Doctor Verde."

Verde pushed his glasses up. "May I help you?"

"You don't know me but I have to say… your research is brilliant. Have you considered applying them to other areas?"

"Areas such as what?" Verde asked.

The masked man chuckled. "Why, Dying Will Flames, of course."

Dying Will…?

"Now see here! I don't have time for fairy tales. Please leave." Verde crossed his arms.

"Dying Will Flames are very much real… if you'd like to learn more about them instead of the theories you seem rather fond of, you can find out more here." The masked man slid a piece of paper that turned out to be a map. "There will be others there… I expect the seven of you to get along just fine but I suppose we'll just have to see, ne?" The masked man tilted his head.

Verde grimaced as he looked at the map. "What is this about?"

"If you're curious, then you'll just have to go see." The masked man said with a wave before he stepped back and vanished like a ghost.

"I wonder who that strange man was." His assistant murmured. "Oh well."

Verde looked back down at the map.

_I wonder..._

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><p><em><strong>StormMist**_

_Master_.

Fon's crimson-black eyes opened a sliver.

"Are you awake?"

He pushed himself into a kneeling position. "What is it you ask of me?" Fon asked.

"You have a visitor. Get dressed." The man he recognized as his master said, looking over Fon's naked body with temptation. There was no time, his grimace said. Fon nodded, accustomed to these kinds of things. He was well acquainted with his _Master's_ Family. The Triads had been kind to him and his younger sister after his family was slaughtered.

When he was dressed, Fon stood to follow. His master raised an eyebrow. "No braid?"

"I will braid it on the way." Fon said, working his fingers through his long hair. True to his word, he braided it on the trek to Viper's quarters. "Viper as well?" Fon asked. The mage had kept to herself these recent months, undergoing some sort of metamorphosis that was forcing her powers out of control. She had come to Fon one night, desperate for some relief. Fon had taught her to separate her mind from her illusions through meditation. She had not spoken to anyone since.

Well, almost.

She had spoken to Fon's sister, Etheria (she loathed her name, always requesting to be called Eri instead but Fon never called her by her given name—only Viper did). The woman looked a lot like Fon, though she lacked his unique eyes. Her eyes were equally as interesting, resembling the sun reflecting off of the clouds. She had no pupils but she could see just fine. Her eyes were magnificent.

"Forgive me for intruding Viper," Master said, kneeling low. He only showed this side to the three of them.

"You are never intruding." Fon watched the outline of her stand and pull on a robe with a hood.

Strange… she never wore a hood before.

Master's eyes widened. "So it is complete."

"Yes… my eyes have been sealed. I am no longer a threat to those around us, master." Viper lowered her head.

"Viper..." Fon felt his throat burn. An illusionist relied heavily on their eyes… for without them, they would not know what they were casting.

"Do not pity me. I do not need my eyes to see. And as long as my mind is strong, I can cast whatever I want. Do not think that I am blind because my eyes have been sewn shut. I can see as though they were open—thus is my new ability."

"But why go to such extremes?" Fangs flashed against purple lips and Fon felt himself sigh. She had a vision then. "The stitches will come off when my eyes are ready to be used for their fullest potential." She stepped forward and put a hand on Fon's cheek. "When that day comes, will you be there with me, _Wind Dragon_?"

Fon touched the hand on his cheek. "Yes, _Basilisk in the Fog_. I will." His lips twitched. "Although, do not cast me to my death beforehand, my dear." Viper spun, offended. Fon laughed at her. "Do we not have a visitor?" Fon asked their master.

"You do… please, Lady Snake, make haste. I do not like him in my shop and I would like him gone quickly."

Fon and Viper tensed, both gazing at their master's back as he left. Fon looked at Viper who was already looking beyond the walls. After a moment she bared her teeth in a hiss that displayed her unease. "Viper?"

"There's no one there..." She whispered. "I don't understand. I can _hear_ him, hear his breathing, his heartbeat… I can sense a physical presence… and yet, my eyes… they do not detect that anyone is there."

Fon started.

"How is that possible?" He whispered.

"I know of only one power that can deceive my eyes but… it has not been found for centuries..." Her lips turned into a smile. "Let's go see if my theory is correct, shall we?" She inquired, tilting her head. She returned to her room to change into clothes that would better aid her new handicap. When she came out, Fon frowned at her. "Shall we, _Wind Dragon_?"

Fon shook his head and smiled. He grabbed her hand and hooked it on his arm. She would need help the fist time.

He guided her to the shop where a masked man was chatting amicably with master. He paused in whatever he was saying and stood to greet them. "Hello, _Wind Dragon of the Storm_ and _Basilisk of the Fog_. It is a pleasure to officially meet you."

Master drew his blade.

"Now, now," Viper said, releasing Fon. She stepped forward and tapped the tip of master's blade, sending a sharp ringing sound throughout the shop that send the customers to their knees. "There is no need for such hostilities."

The masked man whistled. "An impressive display. Would you mind if I gave it a go?"

Before she could answer, Viper let out a scream of agony. The masked man took a step back, startled. Fon ducked his head to hide his smile. Viper was faking it. "No..." She whimpered, stumbling back and hitting Fon's chest to form a connection.

_He's an illusionist and I was right—he has the Hell Ring_.

"Ah, forgive me… I… forgot that your ability makes you hyper sensitive to the intentions of those around you…" The masked man sighed, smiling apologetically.

"It is fine." Viper said as though nothing happened. "What have you come here for?" Their master stood emotionless behind the cashier but he was ready to move at any moment.

"There is a meeting that I wish the two of you to attend…" The masked man waved his hand and a paper crane landed in front of Viper. "That has a map of where the meeting will be held. I do hope the two of you will show up. The jobs I wish for you to preform pay _very_ well." He bowed in farewell before he was just _gone_.

Viper tapped the crane and let it unfold.

"Florence?" Fon asked.

"It would seem… what do you think?"

"I think..." Fon pursed his lips. "That if we _are_ serious about going, we need master's permission first."

Their master sighed. "You were never mine to keep. Go live your life. I will continue caring for Etheria until you return."

Fon grimaced.

"It is only the first meeting." Viper said. "We can ask about housing and whatnot when we get there. Do not be so hasty to turn something like this away."

Fon sighed. "As you wish." He nodded. "We will go to Florence then." He turned to his master and bowed. "Please take care of Etheria until I come back."

Luce felt her throat contract when she stepped into her bedroom and Kawahira was already there. "It has been done—the way _you've_ asked for it to be done, Luce of the Giglio Nero."

She swallowed. She could not condemn people that she hardly knew and she could not get to know them because that would make her a _traitor_. This is how it had to be done. This was the only way.

When Kawahira was gone, Luce fell to her knees and cried. She cried for the family that she would never get to have—for the friends that she would betray—and most of all for the life she has cast them into because the die have been cast.

Now the only thing she could do was pray.

_**Tsuzukeru.**_

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><p><strong><em>Thanks for reading~!<em>**


	2. Prologue p2 (Gathering)

**_Author's Note: _**Revised 5/16/15

Hope you like the new version xp I know I do~

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><p>Luce nervously toyed with the tray. Seven of the underground's elite were sitting in the other room and she was about to serve them <em>snacks<em>. The absurdity made her want to laugh hysterically. She was… saddened by this.

Under normal circumstances, she would rely heavily on the Harmony factor in her Flame. She would use that to sooth them, to ease their anxiety around her… but she would not be the Sky Arcobaleno this time. This time, it would be Tsunayoshi that took them, guided them. He would be their protector, not her.

"Do you need any help?"

She jumped, almost dropping the tray and spinning around. Tsunayoshi was standing in the doorway. He grimaced.

His eyes were a striking shade of gold and amber combined—it was the exact same shade as Primo's when he was in Hyper Dying Will mode if her memory served her correctly. His hair was dark and messy, sticking up in every which direction, but there was a tail that swept down the curve of his back. It cut off just below the base of his ribs and crimped up at the bottom. It was tied back with some sort of silver clasp that kept it neat. His skin was a soft cream. His appearance wasn't strict but it wasn't casual with a white button-up shirt without a tie, an open jacket and a pair of slacks. The first two buttons on his shirt were undone and he seemed to have had a black collar around his neck. His overall appearance was impressive for being so young and he was svelte—toned in some places, lithe in others. From what she could see, he had no markings on his body but something told her that he wasn't entirely unmarked but whether it was scars or tattoos, she didn't know.

"I apologize."

"No… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to start so… violently." She said awkwardly. She put up a somewhat forced smile. "I'd love some help… thank you."

Tsunayoshi was slow and deliberate around her. He was careful not to make any sudden or jerky movements, as though he would scare her away. "I'm not fragile, Tsunayoshi, there's no need to be so careful around me."

"No but I can imagine that being in a room full of the most dangerous people can be a bit _stressful_ and that is not good for a woman in your… condition." He frowned, obviously realizing how his words sounded but not knowing how to fix it. Luce giggled.

"You shouldn't try so hard." She patted his hand.

"Ah..." A small flush rose to his cheeks and he averted his amber eyes. She was embarrassing him. She laughed this time.

"You're so cute." She patted his cheek and handed him a tray of cookies. "Help me take these out to them."

Tsunayoshi looked down and frowned.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"They will not trust you so easily." Tsunayoshi said quietly. "They will not trust _me_, so easily."

"How do you know that?"

"It is human instinct. They do not trust that which they do not know." Tsunayoshi said.

"That may be… but you are only how old? Fourteen?"

"Sixteen," Tsunayoshi corrected quietly.

"To them, you are still just a child. They will trust you much quicker than a pregnant old maid." Luce winked at him. She heard him huff and stand up and she wondered what she said that offended him. When the door swung after him, she caught the tail-end of what he was grumbling.

"...not an old maid."

She beamed. Maybe there _was_ some hope.

* * *

><p>Arco27<p>

Had such emotions been beyond him while he was _stuck_ in this _Hyper Dying Will mode_, Tsunayoshi would have felt fear the moment he stepped through the door when he realized who else had been called to this meeting. Sitting at the table were several well known freelancers/assassins within the Mafia. First and most memorable was Reborn—also referred to as the Harbinger of Chaos. It suited Tsunayoshi's alias well if he was honest about it. The second most notable was Lal Mirch simply because she was Tyr's Rain Guardian. The little red pin on her collar was proof enough to that. The third was Verde. He was known as the second coming of Da Vinci and Tsunayoshi had no doubt that his mind was working overtime in an attempt to figure out the situation before he did. Then there was Skull who ran the biggest street-racing corporation in the underground. Motor cycles, cars—anything on wheels, he stripped of its valuables and sold to various mechanical based Families. He was also well known for surviving any sort of crash and doubling over as a stunt man in the light. Next was Viper—or _Basilisk in the Fog_. While androgynous in appearance, Tsunayoshi was not fooled. She was a woman through and through. He was familiar with the presence of the ability she presented herself with. The ability, while it was beginning to manifest, could kill with one accidental gaze. It forced the user to hide their eyes for forty years but when they opened them again for the first time, their illusions would be so much stronger… it was a very strong and unique ability. He had only ever seen it once. And last but certainly not least was the _Wind Dragon of the Storm_ himself, Fon. Tsunayoshi knew him more from word-of-the-mouth than his appearance which was just as well. He was fast enough to stop a bullet with his bare hands and while he was finicky and preferred clean kills, he was far from weak.

All of them were strong and all of them could snap his neck within seconds if he let his guard down.

But then, at the same time, he wasn't surprised. After all, who else would they call _The Strongest Seven?_

After a few moments of examining the table, he stood, ignoring the stares and walked into the kitchen where Luce was standing. "Do you need any help?" She started violently and he grimaced. That wasn't his intention. "I apologize." He said, inclining his head. He hadn't meant to startle her. Perhaps he should make his presence more known?

"No… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to start so… violently." She said, waving him off a little awkwardly. She smiled but he could tell it was forced. "I'd love some help… thank you."

He made sure to keep his movement slow and somewhat sloppy so that his footsteps would make noise when he moved. She shot him a wry smile. "I'm not fragile, Tsunayoshi, there's no need to be so careful around me."

His response was automatic. "No but I can imagine that being in a room full of the most dangerous people can be a bit _stressful_ and that is not good for a woman in your…" He paused. How to word this… "..condition." He grimaced. That wasn't how he wanted it to sound… how could he fix that?

A giggle drew him from his thoughts. "You shouldn't try so hard." Luce patted his hand.

"Ah..." He tried to force the blood out of his cheeks. Suddenly, Luce squealed and laughed at him.

"You're so cute." She patted his cheek and handed him a tray of cookies. "Help me take these out to them." She said, beaming at him.

Tsunayoshi looked down at the tray and frowned. Did she honestly think they would take these?

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"They will not trust you so easily." Tsunayoshi said quietly. "They will not trust _me_, so easily."

"How do you know that?" Luce asked, cocking her head in curiosity.

"It is human instinct. They do not trust that which they do not know." Tsunayoshi said with a humorless smile. He may be just a child but this was the mafia and they were trained killers.

"That may be… but you are only how old? Fourteen?" He was offended.

"Sixteen," Tsunayoshi corrected quietly, trying not to let his offense show.

"To them, you are still just a child. They will trust you much quicker than a pregnant old maid." Luce winked at him. Tsunayoshi wanted to growl at her but settled for blowing out a breath through his nose. He pushed past the door and grumbled under his breath.

"She's not an old maid." He muttered, setting the cookies on the table.

"Pardon?" Doctor Verde asked and Tsunayoshi started.

"Nothing." Tsunayoshi shook his head. "I said nothing." He brushed it off. "Snacks courtesy of Don Giglio Nero." He motioned to the cookies before reaching down and grabbing one to show them that they weren't poisoned. After a moment, Fon, Skull and Viper reached over to grab one. Tsunayoshi didn't take anymore after that but he did take some coffee when Luce offered it.

"Hey," Tsunayoshi nudged the side of Lal's foot with his own catching her attention. She turned to look at him but didn't say anything. "You're one of Tyr's, right? How's Nocturna?"

"Bitching up a storm about freeloaders." She hadn't shut up when Lal left.

"Ah… she never did take a shining to Colonnello, did she?" Tsunayoshi sighed. "Damn shame. Tyr wanted him to take your place after you left."

"How do you know that?" Lal asked.

"Tyr and I are… acquainted." Tsunayoshi cocked his head. "I left Colonnello in Tyr's charge when I moved to Germany for work."

Lal paused, giving him a once over and he could read her doubt. "Colonnello doesn't shut up about an old friend of his from "back home". Where is he talking about?"

"Monte Carlo. I have a villa there. It's… the closest thing to a home." He admitted hesitantly. "When I take time off, I take Colonnello to that villa. I… may have fibbed and told him that I spend a majority of my time there."

"Do you?" Reborn seemed amused.

"No. I get a lot of jobs that take me to different places. Right now, I live in Germany. I have a strong feeling that that's going to change by the end of the week."

Luce cleared her throat. "You'd be right. There is a villa owned by Giglio Nero in the mountains of Palermo. Everything will be supplied. I request that you stay there."

"To be monitored?" Doctor Verde asked.

"No." It was Tsunayoshi who answered. "She wishes for me to _court_ you as my new Elements." His amber eyes blazed angrily. Luce flinched.

Reborn stood up angrily, "_That's_ the kind of thing that you tell us beforehand." His voice was dangerous and it was clear that he was not happy.

"Easy. She is carrying a child with her. Do not push her body by emitting a _killer intent_, assassin. If her child dies because of your stupidity, I will hold _you_ personally accountable." Tsunayoshi was standing in front of her, blocking her from their view. "She had a right to keep that much from you—I would have—_however_," He turned to her. "I would have greatly _appreciated_ a little warning before you drop something like that on me, Don Giglio Nero."

"I apologize..." Luce ducked her head, ashamed.

"There is a flaw in your plan. I assume you chose me because you believed I have no Elemental Bonds, correct?" Luce nodded. "That has recently changed."

Horror filled Luce's core. Tsunayoshi's head jerked up and he took a step back from her. It took her a moment to pinpoint Kawahira behind her. "Do you, now?" He asked, looking him over. Tsunayoshi's eyes seem to take on an ominous glow.

"You didn't check your facts before you invited us here, did you?" Tsunayoshi smirked coldly at the masked man. "Your chosen is one off."

"It doesn't matter." The masked man said, waving him off. "I'll just use _your_ Rain instead."

"Use him for what?" Tsunayoshi asked, his expression becoming guarded.

"Missions. Difficult missions. They pay _very_ well."

He was lying. Tsunayoshi recognized the icy cold feeling that enveloped his body. The masked man in front of him was _lying_. He stored that knowledge away for later. He could use that. He _would_ use that. "Why not just hire someone like the Vongola to get them done?"

"Why do that when I have the seven of you? Your prices are far more acceptable than the Vongola's."

Tsunayoshi couldn't argue with that. Private contractors usually were. "You have my interest… but the others may not share it." He motioned to the table that was watching them interact with guarded expressions. "I will be in Palermo with my Rain in one week's time. If you are serious about contracting me, I do not charge lightly and any evidence that links the two of us _must_ be eliminated, am I understood?"

"So you will do it?" The masked man asked.

"A trial. I will do a trial. The trial will span four months. As I am the Sky, I will make the rules. I assume Luce will come in to mediate anything that goes wrong?" He looked at the female Don who nodded. "Very well." Tsunayoshi sighed. "Should any of _you_ be interested," He addressed the table. "I will book seven rooms at the _Empire Royale_. They will all be listed under these aliases. Should you decide to show up, claim your room and we will depart to the villa at the end of the week."

"Tch, who put you in charge?" Lal asked.

Tsunayoshi gazed at her for a moment. "Did you not hear me? _I_ will be _courting_ you as my Elements. That means that I have to show you how good of a leader I can be as your _Sky_, your leader. You don't have to _follow_ the rules—you aren't mine yet. I only ask that you _know_ them."

Despite himself, Reborn was impressed.

"I'll do it." Reborn said. He wanted to see what this kid was made of. There was a fire in his eyes that Reborn liked and there was no denying that he was damn good looking too. The kid handed him a slip of paper.

_Dark Sinclair._

"The aliases that your hotels will be listed under." He set down a stack of papers. "In the hotel room, there will be various supplies—fake passports, birth certificates, IDs, and whatnot… those will be our identities while we live under the Giglio Nero's _care_. If you don't like the names, feel free to change them. There will be kits hidden under the beds for such a purpose." Tsunayoshi inclined his head. "Am I missing anything, Checkerface?"

"Checkerface?" Luce asked with a giggle.

"Hn." He smirked. "He didn't give us a name so I gave him one instead." Tsunayoshi didn't look away from the smirking masked man.

"You are an interesting little boy, Tsunayoshi. I look forward to seeing you mature into the Sky I know you can be." The man, Checkerface, moved forward as though to touch Tsunayoshi and then thought better of it. He shook his head and snapped, causing his presence to disappear.

He was gone.

Tsunayoshi rocked back on the balls of his feet and spun for the door. "Where are you going?" Skull asked.

"I have aliases to forge, remember?" Tsunayoshi looked back at them. "I don't have time to waste."

_**Tsuzukeru.**_

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><p><strong><em>Thanks for reading~!<em>**


	3. Chapter 1: Retrieval, Arrival, 1st Night

**_Author's Note: _**Revised 5/16/15

Hope you like the new version xp I know I do~

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><p>Tyr was expecting him that night.<p>

"You've come to take him back, have you?" He asked.

"It was never permanent, Tyr, I told you that." Tsunayoshi approached his old friend. "Colonnello was mine—I had already claimed him before I turned him over to you." But Tyr already knew that. "Besides," He added. "You have your own."

He could smell Tyr all over Lal. She would only ever have one Sky unless Tyr turned loose of her and he did not renounce his claim so easily. Colonnello was his.

"The two are in love."

That was news to him. "Are you sure?"

"As sure as it gets."

Hmm… which of them would have claim over their child then? Surely the two of them didn't expect the two Skies to _share…_

"Not that kind of love yet, kiddo." Tyr said. "It won't be for a long time."

"They are too immature?" Tsunayoshi asked.

"Not ready for that kind of commitment." Tyr corrected.

"I see..." He really didn't. He wasn't familiar with that kind of love—hadn't been for a long time but Tyr didn't fault him for that. He was born in a test-tube, raised like cattle and those he had learned to call his brothers were all killed off. The only reason Tsunayoshi was alive was because someone from inside the Vongola had stepped up and hid him from their records. To this day, Tyr didn't know who.

"The world did you wrong, kid. I wish there was some way I could fix that." Tyr patted his head. Tsunayoshi watched the man smile sadly.

"There was a time when you would have said otherwise."

"That man is dead and gone, thanks to you, kid." Tyr sighed. "Let's leave the past buried, shall we?"

Tsunayoshi nodded quietly. He was going to apologize for bringing it up but the door to the roof opened and his Rain walked out. Tsunayoshi felt their bond hum and couldn't deny the man a hug.

"I am so ready to get the hell out of here." Colonnello grinned. "Where to, _boss?_" He asked.

Tsunayoshi smiled, pulling away. "Palermo. We will be working a long-term job there. There will be others..." He trailed off, biting his lip. "You may no longer be my only Element." He added quietly.

"Well, shit, kora. It's about time! It's been getting a little lonely here."

The bond, Tsunayoshi realized. Colonnello was craving companionship as much as Tsunayoshi was. He wanted to complete the rainbow too, wanted to feel complete. He would not have as much trouble adjusting as he originally thought. Relief filled him.

"Let us leave then, yes?"

* * *

><p>The villa was two story with ten bedrooms and six bathrooms and one master-suite on the top floor. Four of the bedrooms were small and were clearly meant for guests but they were the ones that were claimed first. Skull, Viper and Fon all claimed the small rooms on the first floor while Tsunayoshi claimed a rather large master-bedroom for both he and Colonnello.<p>

"You're sharing a room?" Lal asked when she caught them walking in together.

"Why not, kora?" Colonnello asked before the door was shut behind them. Lal blinked, startled. Had she just been brushed off? She frowned. How did she feel about that? She kept her footsteps light and leaned her head against the door.

"-_sonuva**bitch**, kora."_

"_I know… and I didn't mean to strain it like this..._"

"_Don't ever leave me behind like that again, Tsunayoshi. Do you understand me, kora?_"

She heard cloth rubbing together.

"_I understand, my Rain. I will never leave you again._"

"_You'd **better** not, kora."_ There was a feral edge to Colonnello's voice that made something in her belly coil. "_I'll make you pay if you do._"

The only thing she could hear was cloth rubbing against cloth. She closed her eyes and pulled away from the door. What was that about?

* * *

><p>Colonnello closed the door, feeling slightly guilty at brushing Lal off so quickly but <em>damn it<em>, his body was _aching_ to have Tsunayoshi underneath him, under his control. Tsunayoshi's back was turned to him—an extreme show of trust—and Colonnello used that oportunity to grab his arm, twist it behind his back the same way Lal did to him on occasion and ground his hips against Tsunayoshi's. He felt his Sky tense and gasp.

"Don't you _ever_ keep your distance like that again, Tsunayoshi." He snarled, biting the nape of his Sky's neck. He felt Tsunayoshi's breath catch in his throat. Colonnello licked the blood he drew, feeling the bond hum with satisfaction after punishing his Sky. "That kind of pain is a sonuva_bitch_."

Tsunayoshi's breath evened out and he forced his body to relax. "I know… and I didn't mean to strain it like this..." He bit his lip to keep from crying out when Colonnello shifted against his backside. They were clothed but he was kind of wishing they weren't.

Colonnello's grip loosened and Tsunayoshi rolled underneath him, pressing his lips against Colonnello's throat and pulling him closer by his jacket. "Don't ever leave me being like that again, Tsunayoshi." Colonnello sounded… defeated. Tsunayoshi hated it. Colonnello grabbed his hands and held them up above his head. "Do you understand me, kora?" Tsunayoshi shifted and Colonnello shifted his knee causing Tsunayoshi to bite back a hiss.

"I understand, my Rain." He said, trying to keep the quiver out of his voice. Colonnello wanted absolute submission and it was only through sheer will power that he was able to prevent himself from giving it to him completely. Being stuck in Hyper Dying Will mode made him hyper sensitive to the desires of his Elements and Colonnello was his _only_ current Element. "I will never leave you again."

"You'd _better_ not." Colonnello growled, releasing Tsunayoshi despite the tent in his pants and the almost overpowering urge to _ravish_ the brunet. He didn't want their first time together to be in the heat of anger so he would just have to wait.

Tsunayoshi didn't want to. He moved so that he could straddle Colonnello's lap and pressed his lips against the older man's. He wasn't expecting Colonnello to respond so quickly, for that cold anger to be replaced by something much more needy.

His breath caught when Colonnello laid back, taking his Sky with him. He rolled so that he was on top and Tsunayoshi barely swallowed a moan. To give his Elements complete and total domination over him while they followed his lead. It never made sense to him but it felt right so that's how he did it.

And _damn_ did it feel good.

* * *

><p>By the time everyone was settled in, Luce had finished dinner. It was Chicken Alfredo with green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy. "I don't think it's fair for Luce to do all of the cooking, even if she is good at it." Fon stated after a few moments of silence.<p>

"I agree." Tsunayoshi said. "Is anyone capable of cooking _without_ burning the food?" He made an obvious motion towards Colonnello who was trying desperately not to pay attention to it.

"This food is really good. My compliments to the chef."

"I can't cook." Doctor Verde said blankly.

"Most scientists can't, kora. I know none that Tyr employs can." Colonnello shook his head. "It's like eating dry ice."

"Ouch." Skull commented, rubbing his throat. "Frostbite for dessert anyone?" Tsunayoshi rolled his eyes when Colonnello snickered.

"Hey, what's your Elements? I already know Lal and Tsuna's."

"Tsuna?" Luce asked.

"He thinks my name is too long and has given me a nickname to make up for it. I don't bother correcting him anymore because there's no point. He won't listen to me anyways." Tsunayoshi twisted the fork and chewed the noodles slowly as he pondered what to say next. "Let's see if my memory is as good as it used to be. Starting from my left is Reborn. His Element is Sun. Next to him is Doctor Verde and his Element is Lightning. You know Lal. Next to her is Skull. His Element is Cloud. The final two are Fon and Viper and their Elements are Storm and Mist. Our host is Luce—she has a Sky Flame, like I do."

"If she has a Sky Flame, why aren't they here courting her?" Colonnello asked.

"Because I cannot sustain an Elemental bond." Luce smiled but it was thin and very fake. Tsunayoshi felt ice sink into his bones and frowned. She was… lying? Why?

"Or perhaps she is not interested in this group of Elements." Tsunayoshi said. "It happens from time to time."

It spoke levels of their ego when all of them looked offended in some way or another. Hm. That would have to change.

Oh well, Tsunayoshi thought. They had _plenty _of time for that.

* * *

><p>They cleared the table quickly. Tsunayoshi and Reborn both volunteered to do the dishes. Colonnello didn't look happy about being kicked out of the kitchen half-way through the dishes when Reborn and Colonnello got into a scrubbing contest.<p>

"Hey, Reborn… have you and Colonnello met before?" Tsunayoshi asked after his Rain went upstairs to sulk.

Reborn looked startled for a fraction of a second before he ran a hand through his spiky hair, having removed his hat for dinner and not had yet to put it back on.

"There was a period of time where the two of us were partners… after his wife was murdered protecting me."

Oh. Well. That answered where their rivalry came from.

"She didn't love me. I just knew her from… a different time."

This was hard for the hitman, Tsunayoshi realized. He dried his hands on his pants and patted the assassin's arm. "You don't have to talk about it if it bothers you. I was just wondering. He seemed comfortable around you. That's all." He turned back to the dishes, unaware of how much he stirred Reborn.

_How can he read me so easily?_

* * *

><p>Tsunayoshi couldn't sleep that night. His Rain was fast asleep, his even breathing calming but not relaxing him. What was wrong with him? He carefully slipped out of his Rain's arms and stepped into the hallway. Maybe if he outlined his new… territory.<p>

His new home.

(It was odd, to think like a Sky and a human at the same time—he didn't consider them one-and-the-same. He would never get used to it.)

He got dressed silently, slipping out the window without a sound. He was half way up the mountain when he realized that he was not alone.

The sound of cursing reached his ears. He waded through the bushes and froze when he saw Skull tangled up in vines from the underbrush. Thorny ones to boot. "Let me help." Tsunayoshi said. Skull jumped and yelped when the vines snagged him.

"Get me out of here!" He cried, twisting and yelping when they tore his skin.

"Hold still." Tsunayoshi said. "I don't want to hurt you." Something in the older teen's aura told Tsunayoshi that he doubted that—everyone seem to hurt him eventually. His eyes widened a fraction as he read this and he shook his head. "I will never hurt you, if you don't want me to." He said softly, his fingers nimbly snapping the thorns that were stuck far too deep to pull out without drawing more blood than necessary.

Skull jerked, his eyes widening. What did he…?

"Let's go treat your wounds, shall we?"

The first thing Tsunayoshi did was give Skull a pain reliever—a vicoden. If it didn't relieve his pain, it would knock him out so his body could recover from the thorns. After that, he began pealing the uniform aside and pulled out the thorns he had broken off. Skull bit his fist to muffle his sounds, knowing that it would wake the others up.

"It hurts..." He whimpered.

Tsunayoshi frowned. That wouldn't do. He reached into his core and tapped the harmonization factor. How to apply it… he pondered for a moment before he got an idea. "Here," He waved his hand over the thorns and warmed them with his harmony element. Skull shivered.

"Whoa… is that… your Sky Flame?" He asked, motioning to the Flame that had grown on his forehead.

Tsunayoshi raised a hand and let it light. He held out his hand for Skull to examine. After a moment, the Flame died down. Skull looked disappointed when it was gone. He made an apologetic sound. "I will burn if I keep it lit for too long. I don't have a conduit with me."

Skull's ears burned, he suddenly felt foolish. Tsunayoshi either ignored his embarrassment or was oblivious to it. It took him a moment to realize the thorns had burned away from his wounds and they had scabbed over. "Wh—"

"I accelerated your natural healing ability. It will still hurt but by morning, the wounds will be gone." _And so will that warmth you feel_, he heard. Skull wanted to pitch a fit but couldn't find the motivation. "For now, don't strain yourself too much."

Tsunayoshi turned away from him and Skull watched his hair sway with the movement. It was long and Skull could imagine running his fingers through it. "Y-your hair is pretty." He blurted, flushing red when Tsunayoshi turned towards him with a smile.

It was different from his other expressions. His eyes had lightened to a sunset gold, his irises becoming a light shade of orange like the sunset summer sky. It made Skull feel euphoric, dazed almost. He felt stunned by it. "You and a lot of people think so." He said, laughter clear in his voice. It warmed Skull in a way he hadn't thought possible. "Want to hear something funny?" He asked, twisting a particularly long strand around a finger. "I used to hate it. I used to keep it hidden by hoods and hats. One windy day, my hat got lost to the storm. My… companion told me that I had such pretty hair that it was a shame I kept it hidden. I told him I hated it. The next week, he set it up so that I would be killed… I survived, only barely, and I dropped a building on his head in retaliation. I made sure he would survive. We made it an unspoken promise between us. I would grow out my hair if he would change his ways. He kept his promise… I suppose it's only fair that I keep mine."

It was a constant reminder of Tyr. Tsunayoshi had been attracted to the man but he lacked discipline and honor. He knew no mercy and care little for how much he was hurting those around him by partaking in mindless slaughter. Tsunayoshi taught him otherwise. In exchange, Tyr had taught him to love parts of himself, even if there were parts of him that he didn't like.

"That's… an odd kind of friendship." Skull muttered.

"Probably… but the paths we take paints the map of our lives and I like to take the interesting ones—ones that get me in a good place in the world."

Skull seemed doubtful—good place in _this_ world?

Tsunayoshi hummed as though he could hear Skull's thoughts. "Not the underground—although the white-collar luxuries are great and all. The world in general. I want to live a content life, Skull. If that means partaking in what others view as wrong, so be it."

"What do you mean?" Skull asked.

Tsunayoshi shook his head. "You'll see, if you so choose." Tsunayoshi said. "Good night, Skull. Try not to stay up too late."

Skull started when he realized Tsunayoshi had cleaned up his wounds, dressed them and cleaned his mess up while they were talking. He moved fast! That thought was only proven when he heard the door close. He scrambled to turn off the light and get to bed. How long had he been up anyways?!

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><p><em>The first night has ended and though they were not yet attached, seeds had been planted and the harmony had begun to sprout.<em>

_By the end of four months time, Luce knew for certain. They would be his._

_He would not tell them what bonding with him entailed until then, she saw, because they did not need to know that, but when that time came, they would ask for her to leave and…_

_Nothing._

_She saw nothing._

_It frightened her but she skipped ahead and breathed a sigh of relief._

_All would go according to plan, she saw._

_As long as all went according to plan, she would not have to fear._

_Tsunayoshi would protect that which would never be hers in her place._

_That would have to be enough._

_**Tsuzukeru.**_

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><p><strong><em>Thanks for reading~!<em>**


	4. Interlude: Meeting Tyr

**_Author's Note: _**Revised 5/16/15

Hope you like the new version xp I know I do~

This interlude reads more like a summary because there is a lot of triggering material involved in the mission. I will write a detailed version when I am in the mood for the real horrors that the mafia has to offer. At the moment, I do not want nightmares so this will have to do.

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><p>Kieth Lemaro.<p>

The man was a sleaze-ball of the worst kind. That was why Tsunayoshi took up the hit. It had been issued by the Vongola but a paycheck was a paycheck and his bank account was getting a bit low.

Unfortunately, the man was already dead when he got there. He recognized the kill as the supposed _Sword Emperor_, Tyr of the Vongola. He was a Sky with a unique fighting style because he lost a hand in battle. Tsunayoshi had never had the pleasure of crossing paths with him until now.

'_Damn it. I need a paycheck!_' He sighed, raking a hand through his hair in frustration. "Now what?" He said out loud.

The door opened. The maid screamed. Tsunayoshi tensed before his flight reflexes kicked in and he dove through the window. The maid would not remember his face. He wove through the crowds until he arrived back at the villa he'd learned to call home where Nocturna was waiting for him.

Nocturna was a beautiful woman with hair a shade of black so deep that it glowed blue under florescent light. Her skin was pale and on the side of her face, starting at her temple, curving around her eye and stopping on her cheek was a silver crescent moon.

It was part of her _Thirty Night Torture_ ability. When the moon was full, that marked the climax of the torture. For twelve straight hours, while the moon was full and shining over your fallen body, you would endure _hell_. Tsunayoshi had never been on the receiving end of it but he had seen it in action—had watched the man's body melt under the amount of stress his mind put it under—and new that he _never_ wanted to be on the receiving end of it.

At the time, he had not known that the man who stole his kill and the woman that was pleasuring him were connected—had not known that the scent he was smelling on her Flame was that of her Sky.

"You seem tense." Nocturna said, running her hands over Tsunayoshi's shoulders.

The two of them had crossed paths in the back-alleys before. It wasn't until Nocturna tried to roofie him that they got together.

In her defense, not many of the young ones came to her willingly. Tsunayoshi was a rare exception.

"Someone stole my kill."

"Hmm~?" She hummed.

"The signature was a double-edged sword through the chest." Tsunayoshi took a sip of wine. Nocturna froze. Tsunayoshi looked back at her. She was nervous… why? "Are you alright?"

"Fine~." She cooed, pressing her breasts against his back. He sighed. What did she find attractive in him? He was _fourteen…_

Well… not that he was _complaining_ but something told him that society wouldn't see it the same way he did.

"Are you familiar with the MO?"

Nocturna laughed nervously.

Tsunayoshi gave her a dry stare. "Who is he? Ex boyfriend?"

"More like… my boss."

"I didn't know you were _employed_." Tsunayoshi mused, stirring in the hot water when he turned on the faucet. "Is he a Don?"

"He's the leader of a shadow organization within the Vongola. His name is Tyr—a Sky like you."

He connected the dots. "That explains the strange scent on your Flame." He mused. "He's marked you, hasn't he?"

"Yes." Nocturna nodded. "I am his Mist."

"And the gentleman that was with you the other night… Maverick. He is a Cloud, right?"

Nocturna gave him an odd look. "How did you know?"

"Lucky guess." Tsunayoshi lied easily. He had read his Flame, of course. That man had the same scent on his Flame that Nocturna did. They were both claimed. Such a pity, he thought mournfully. "Would you mind asking your boss why he stole my prey?"

"It was a message to the people he was working for—the Zeno. Tyr is trying to put an end to the war between them and the Vongola."

"Well," Tsunayoshi laughed. "If he wants to do that, who am I to stop him? They will seek a replacement. Keith Lemaro was a computer programmer."

"Then we have a problem." Nocturna sighed.

"Oh?"

"We needed to off a biological engineer, not a computer programmer. Whoever collected intel probably did a shitty job. The fresh releases were crap this year." Nocturna sighed. "I'm going to be called out."

"Hmm… what if I gave your boss an in?"

"How would you do that?" Nocturna turned to him, watching him light himself from the tub and wrap a towel around his waist.

"I have a partner that's a wiz with computers." He lied. Leon would help him decipher the coding that would otherwise be foreign to him. He relied a lot on that little lizard and no one knew it. He was Mayhem's dirty little secret… "He can talk me through what needs to get done and you can come with me as my assistant or something."

Nocturna pursed her lips. "Tyr will want to do the job himself."

That was disappointing. '_Suck it up, sweetheart. A paycheck is a paycheck._'

"In that case, I'll want the money he stole when he took my kill." Tsunayoshi deadpanned, completely serious. Nocturna nodded.

"That sounds reasonable. Wow, you just did half of my job for me." She beamed. "Thank you, Tsunayoshi." She kissed his cheek.

He would never see that money.

His first impression of Tyr had been _sleaze-ball_. He did not like the man. The man had complimented him, treated him well, but underneath it all, Tsunayoshi had a feeling that the man did not really give a damn what happened to him and that was only proven when they finished the job.

The job had been done but there had been one miscalculation.

The Don had never left the premises. Tyr had lied, had set it up so Tsunayoshi would take the fall.

Tsunayoshi had just finished writing the script when he turned and realized Tyr had fled. Seconds after that registered, the doors flew open and he was strapped to the desk he had been working at. Keith Lemaro's boss, Don Zeno, was a tall man with equal length in his torso and legs. His hair was black and slicked back into a long ponytail.

He was on top of Tsunayoshi, burning his clothes away. He forced himself on Tsunayoshi—_inside_ of him—before he pulled out a syringe and injected him with a liquid that burned his blood.

He felt that needle slide into his arm and cool liquid imbued with his blood. His already sluggish senses became foggy. He felt a phial being emptied into his mouth. He tried to spit the burning liquid out but a hand clamped firmly over his mouth while another rubbed his throat in a means of coaxing the burning liquid down. Without consent, it drained into his system leaving nothing but cold, sharp and searing pain in its wake.

It hurt a lot but and he tried to open his mouth to scream but nothing came out. He couldn't make a sound. His body thrashed against his restraints, twitching and convulsing against his will as the pain became too much to bare. The thrashing aggravated old wounds, ripped the stitches out of fresher ones and hurt him more than the liquid coursing through his veins did.

When the pain was gone, Tsunayoshi was left naked and curled in the corner with strange black markings running up his arms and down his back. Don Zeno had just sat and watched him burn.

"Beautiful." He had murmured before grabbing Tsunayoshi and throwing him over the desk. He had intended to rape him again, to remind him that he was no longer in control when suddenly, he was burning and then he was gone.

Tsunayoshi broke from the burnt corpse's grasp easily, sparing it only a glance before he set the entire place ablaze.

He did not feel a thing.

He had not felt a thing since.

The abuse was still fresh in his mind but there was no emotion to go with the actions. One day, he'd admit that maybe he went overboard but today, he did not care. He rigged the building, knowing that it would not be enough to kill the man and waited for him to show up.

When Tyr showed up, he attacked, beating the man within an inch of his life and leaving him. When he stood over him after he was done, he spat by the man's face. "You are despicable. You left a child to be raped and tortured because you failed to lure the boss away and for what? Because you did not want to pay me the money that I would be living on?" He shot Tyr's kneecaps out. "Let this be a lesson. I will not kill you. Use this mercy to change your ways or the next time we meet, I will."

Twenty minutes later, the building exploded.

Tsunayoshi was already gone.

__**Tsuzukeru**___._

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><p><strong><em>Thanks for reading~!<em>**


	5. Chapter 2: Health Problems

**_Author's Note: _**Revised 5/16/15

Hope you like the new version xp I know I do~

* * *

><p>Already one month had passed and Tsunayoshi was bonded with three of the six. Luce wanted to scream. The progress was not fast enough…<p>

But she supposed that was for the best. Skull had been easy to charm, so desperate for a loving hand to guide him. It did not take long for him to worship the ground Tsunayoshi walked on. He and Colonnello got along great when he wasn't whining. Their sense of humor was identical, although Colonnello was far older and therefore a bit more sadistic (okay, a lot more sadistic) and he liked to beat the boy up when he whined but Tsunayoshi didn't mind it. It would teach Skull to stand up for himself, even if he didn't ever learn to stand up to Colonnello and besides—Tsunayoshi knew when to step in. He wouldn't let it go too far.

He had created a psuedo-bond with Lal because she was marked by another Sky—the best he could under the circumstances—but Luce did not count her, as cruel as it seemed. After Skull had come Verde, although she knew little of how or why the scientist bonded with the young Sky, had been next. She had caught Tsunayoshi's scent on him when he was doing the dishes one evening.

Tsunayoshi wouldn't tell her anything when she asked. She did not walk away empty-handed.

"Let's just say Verde has been helping me with a condition that has affected my physical appearance."

His tattoos, she realized belatedly. They forced him into Hyper Dying Will mode on a permanent basis. Verde must have been helping him fix that.

One night, she overheard the two of them talking. It took her a while to connect the dots. When she did, she kicked herself for being so slow to catch on. "—sure it won't cause any adverse psychological effects?"

"It probably will but I need to be able to sleep eventually. This insomnia is getting out of hand. It didn't start until I was surrounded by unmarked Elements."

"...would marking one of them help?"

She could imagine Tsunayoshi staring at him, gauging if he was serious or not before rolling his eyes. "Yes but I do doubt it is as simple as that."

"Have you asked any of them?" Verde asked dryly. She imagined the way his glasses flashed when he was teasing someone in his backhanded way of doing things.

"I'm not that bold."

"Practice makes perfect—ask me."

She was startled to hear Tsunayoshi laugh. "You're funny, Doctor Verde." She felt his mood go from amused to wicked. "I doubt an old man can keep up with a teenager with raging hormones."

"Hn. I stand by my earlier words."

He laughed again. "Alright, Doctor Verde. May I mark you as my Lightning?"

She heard solid objects hitting the ground and heard Tsunayoshi hiss. "You may," The words were muffled, as though he was speaking against something. Luce left before she could hear anything else, fighting a flush. On second thought, it may have just been denial…

Luce shook herself. Verde had given in easily after Tsunayoshi had gone to him for help curing his insomnia.

She found it ironic that Tsunayoshi's insomnia was the reason Reborn was the one taking the bait instead of the other way around—Reborn wanted to mark Tsunayoshi as his. It was a problem, however, because Tsunayoshi was the alpha and Reborn was not used to being dominated. He was used to being top dog so being put in the vulnerable position it would require for Tsunayoshi to mark him would not be easy for him. It would take a wile to tame that one. She did not expect him to bond with Tsunayoshi until closer to the end of the four-month period.

Verde had come as a suprise, if she was completely honest about it. She had expected him to play hard to get but then, one night, when she heard Tsunayoshi yelp and drop a dish, she found out the reason why.

He wanted to experiment with the bond and the powers that the bond offered. Tsunayoshi, for one moment, had looked flustered with a flush painted right across his nose. His hair was ruffled and his lips were parted as something akin to waves of pleasure assaulted him telling him that Verde was not only pleased but turned on and wanting to reaffirm the bond. She had only caught a glimpse of it before the boy was gone. Colonnello's laughter had echoed into the parlor.

Even Skull was amused.

"What's so funny?" Reborn asked.

"If you were bonded to Tsunayoshi you'd know." Skull said teasing, sticking his tongue out at the assassin before dodging a Sun Flame infused kick that slammed into the wall. "Missed me." He taunted.

"Take it outside!" Tsunayoshi had called from somewhere upstairs.

Skull had pulled his eye down and stuck out his tongue before vaulting off of the balcony. Reborn followed, out for blood and hot on his heals. Luce could only sigh and shake her head.

"Reborn always gets so violent when Skull suggests it. I think he's still in the denial stage." Verde commented.

"Aren't you glad you skipped all that hassle, kora?" Colonnello asked.

"Hmm," Verde licked his lips. "I don't enjoy being pursued. At least this way, I can do the chasing."

"See? I knew you'd get it, kora." Colonnello nodded. "He's gonna have one hell of a time when he gets older though." Their needs would change and Tsunayoshi would serve all of them. "Hey, has anyone else tried calling him Tsuna, kora?"

"No because I have more respect for him than that." Verde rolled his eyes.

"You can call me Tsuna if you want to." Tsunayoshi said, walking down the stairs. "Colonnello is right—my name is long. It's easier to pronounce too."

Viper looked up from her tarot cards. "How do you spell it?"

"Haha," Tsunayoshi, Tsuna, mocked. "Yoshi sounds like a little green dinosaur."

"Even though Yoshi could pass off as lucky?" Reborn asked.

"Hmm… I think rope rather fits, though, don't you think? Rope is just the raw resource for ties, after all."

Skull flushed, Verde pushed his glasses up so that they hid his eyes and Colonnello grinned. Tsunayoshi had complimented them. It made their bonds sing with pleasure. His words had put them on Cloud 9.

Those that were unbonded looked on, somewhat disgusted.

"What are you doing to them?" Viper asked.

"Complimenting them?" Tsuna asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No… you're… releasing something."

"Ah..." Tsuna sat down in front of her. "It's sort of like a pheromone but only I can sense it that way. It's the Harmony factor in my Sky Flame… I might be… using it a bit excessively."

"Why?" She asked, her words coming out in a defensive snarl. She hated herself for being so open.

"To court you, remember?" Tsuna smirked and cocked his head. "When I let it die down, they won't get so high off of it."

"So what? You're… preening?" Viper asked.

Tsunayoshi laughed, startling everyone. "That's one way of putting it."

Viper sat silent and cursed her lack of sight. How she wish she could see how he looked. "Hey, Viper..." He said. He leaned forward, pressing his lips against her hood and whispering, "You don't need your eyes to see, you know."

He had let her touch his face, mapping out his features so her mind could draw him out for her. She asked him what color his eyes were. Luce had been surprised by his answer.

"Chocolate brown."

"No they aren't." Various voices said from around them. Viper jumped.

"They really are. The only reason you see the color you do is because I am trapped in Hyper Dying Will mode."

What had followed was a traumatic revelation of what had happened between Tyr of the Varia and Tsunayoshi years prior.

"You met Tyr through Nocturna… but then how did you meet Nocturna?" Lal asked.

"She tried to roofie me at an underground party. I can taste poisons before I swallow them so I spat out my drink and acted like I was drugged. Apparently she has an attraction towards teenage boys going through puberty." He gave them a wry grin. "I went along with it. I needed the experience."

Viper leaned forward and licked her purple lips. "You'll have to show me some of that experience then, yes?"

Luce knew that he had caught Viper… but the bond was not at all frail and would not be broken easily but it was not a permanent bond. He would satisfy her hunger for acceptance for now but one day, she would want this bond to be transferred. She would want someone else and he accepted that.

It was a rare practice and it kind of startled Luce that Viper knew of it.

But still—temporary or not—she counted it as a win.

Not as far along as she would have liked, as she said, but far enough. She would not interfere because she did not have to. Luce hummed with a content smile and closed her eyes.

_Fire._

_Heat._

__**Burning**___._

_"_Having his body forced into a state of Hyper Dying Will mode every day for two years straight has taken a toll on his body. If you leave him as he is, he will die."__

_"_If you don't leave him as he is, he will die anyways."__

__"You can administer the cure."__

__"Only for a price."__

__"You name it."__

__"Ah, but it is not a price you can pay, Tyr. You already know that. So what shall it be? Will you die or will you give yourself to me?"__

__Angry orange eyes glared at sinister, emotionless eyes before everything was consumed by fire and she was left to **burn**.__

Luce woke up screaming.

* * *

><p>His body was so <em>hot<em>.

'_What time is it?_' He rolled his head to look at the clock. It was almost noon. He groaned and took the warm but wet rag off of his head as he sat up. "Don't strain yourself." Luce said, catching him around the waist and guiding him back down. "It would seem that whatever the Zeno has done to you is finally taking its toll…"

'_So that's why…_' His body was shutting down.

He laughed bitterly.

"How foolish of me." He traced the marks on his arm. "I was foolish to think that I would obtain all six of them before… _this_." His arm fell over his eyes. Luce felt her heart wrench.

"You knew that this would happen?"

"I am far more in touch with my Hyper Intuition this way, Luce. To the point that I can look into the future if I so choose…" He bit his lip. "I fear what will happen when I take the cure because of the trauma that will follow."

Luce felt cold. He was telling her a secret, an important one. She swallowed. "What are you telling me, Tsunayoshi?"

He shivered. "I'm scared. I thought that, while in this form, I could not feel. I was wrong. I _can_ feel but… it feels like it's happening to someone else. I can…_pretend_ that it did… it makes it easier, while like this… but it's only running from my problems and I can't run anymore."

He told her to call the others together. He was guided into the living room by Luce who was careful not to go too fast. "You can trust them, Tsunayoshi. They will never betray you. I have looked and it is cast in stone—when all seven are yours and yours alone, they will serve you until the day you die."

Tsunayoshi shivered with the truth of her words and for the first time, she saw white crystal tears stream down his face. "_Help me_…" He whispered in Japanese. "_I can't face this alone…_"

"_You will never be alone, kora._" Colonnello said, nudging his arm. "You have Elements now, remember?"

Tsunayoshi looked up at them, wide eyes glittering with something she dared to identify as _hope_ before he wiped the tears away. "_Arigatou_," He whispered. "Thank you." He used that moment to compose himself. "Before I was forced to bare _these_," He ran a finger over the black marks on his arm. "I assisted the Varia in taking down the Zeno. Before that, Tyr had taken one of my jobs—a mark issued by the Vongola. He was a computer programmer but at the time, the Varia's lackeys weren't at the normal Varia Standards, so while Tyr had killed one of Vongola's marks, he hadn't killed the right one to infiltrate the Famiglia. I fixed that problem for him. In return, I asked for the one-hundred, fifty-seven grand that would put food on the table and pay my bills for the next month I would have gotten from the original job. Instead of giving me the money, Tyr set it up so that I would catch the fall."

Tsuna felt bile in his throat and he swallowed against it. He felt Colonnello's Flame wash over him but he refused to look at his Rain. "Don Zeno was a cruel bastard and apparently, like Nocturna, had an attraction to _teenagers_." He spat.

Luce gasped, her hands flying to her mouth as the implications settled in on her. "He _didn't…_" She whispered horrified.

Tsuna's mouth twisted. "He did and then some. He injected me with a serum that I think was supposed to kill me… it certainly hurt enough to kill a lesser being but instead of killing me, it granted me a finer control over my Flame—over everything relating to it…

"I burned the facility down." Tsuna continued, ignoring their horrified faces in fear that his stomach would rebel if he acknowledged them. "Razed everything on the island. Afterwards, I set Tyr up so he'd get a taste of his own medicine." He had put Tyr through the same physical pain he had to endure.

"Tch… if Tyr set you up to go through something like that, he got what he_deserved_…" Lal snarled and Tsunayoshi shivered when he felt her _snap_ the bond between them the same way a rubberband would if it was stretched too far and shifted the broken and uneven tie to fit with Colonnello's. It was a tight fit but because Lal and Colonnello were _deeply_ in love, it allowed him to treat it as one bond.

Now if only they would _admit_ it…

Lal would not require sex to satisfy her bond. She was not attracted to him in that way—not yet, at least, but they would have to spend the night in close proximity.

Hmm. Tsunayoshi smirked.

"What's so funny?" Lal asked, flustered.

"Perhaps we should not have been so hasty… Tyr is the one that has the cure…" Lal flushed. Suddenly, Tsunayoshi sneered. "He'll bring Dolohov."

And suddenly, Luce found herself plunged into ice. Whoever this Dolohov was, Tsunayoshi had a very strong dislike for him.

_No…_

This aura, this dark, suffocating feeling that made her want to claw her way out of her skin, was very familiar to her.

Tsunayoshi _hated_ Dolohov.

"…before I came here, Tyr told me that he hoped that I never got to see you and Dolohov interact. What did he mean by that?"

Tsunayoshi wanted to scream but resisted. "Dolohov is very sick. There is something _wrong_ with him and Tyr refuses to seek out the proper medical treatment. Instead, he lets him torture human beings for fun—let's him murder mindlessly and teaches him no mercy. Before he embalms his _living_ victims, he rapes, tortures and mutilates them. He leaves them just barely alive and then he embalms them so that they are preserved like that forever. He keeps the bodies as trophies and uses them to play out his sick fantasies in a psycho-drama with_corpses._ Those that he finds physically appealing, he rapes over and over again, leaving them alive to feel him degrade them but paralyzed under so many different types of drugs."

"How do you know that kind of stuff?" Lal asked feeling nauseated. Only the Varia knew about his sick and twisted _doll collection_.

"…there was a point in time where Tyr let his guard down around Dolohov and that sick bastard got his hands on _me_."

Lal felt sick. To be raped by one sick fuck was bad enough…

"Dolohov _wishes_ he could touch me like that." Tsunayoshi sneered. "I've made it so, if he ever tries, everything surrounding me in a two-mile radius will go up in flames. I've rigged my body so that no one can ever touch me against my will again."

"Wh-what'll happen to you?" Fon asked, barely managing to conceal his stutter.

"I'll die but at least I'll die knowing I took the sick fuck with me." Tsunayoshi said, his eyes becoming half-mass. "At least this way, I won't die _powerless_."

Luce felt the hair on the back of her neck rise. Was this what her dream was trying to tell her? She would have to look into it again…

"If Dolohov tries anything, I'll rip him to pieces, kora." Colonnello said, his eyes glowing with resolve.

"If Dolohov tries anything, we'll _all_ rip him to pieces." Reborn's baritone started Tsuna. He was not expecting the assassin to talk. He shot Tsunayoshi a smirk that send chills of anticipation down his spine. "After all, why would I let him claim something that I haven't yet?"

"Tch… you're too damn cocky, assassin. I think I need to knock you down a few pegs."

"Older and wiser men than you have tried."

"Yes well I bet I'm the first of_ my_ kind to try and tame you."

"You two really need to get over that UST." Verde said. "Really. I've had worse sex with virgin women than I did with Tsunayoshi."

"Are you comparing me to a female?" Tsunayoshi asked. When Lal, Luce and Viper glared at him, he hastily added, "Not that that would be a _bad thing_ if you were."

"No but sex with virgins is overrated."

"True enough." Tsunayoshi shrugged. Luce frowned at him. "Sorry, Luce. Not everyone can save themselves."

"_I _did."

"Yes but you're a Don and the Giglio Nero have been known to be lead by women that had virtues that made you look like _saints_ in comparison to a majority of the mafia's population."

"You have proven that _pure_ does not always mean _virtuous_, Tsunayoshi."

He rolled his eyes. He was used to her turning it around like that. Such a backhanded compliment…

He collapsed on the couch and groaned. "Call in the cavalry. I'm going to war." He said sarcastically.

Luce wanted to reprimand him but knew better. He was only irritated. "You will not be alone with Dolohov."

"This time." Tsuna tacked on. Luce shot him a look. He matched it evenly. "Dolohov is a persistent fool. He will not stop until he gets what he wants and he wants me."

Luce sighed but said nothing. He would not bed on this and neither would she… there _had_ to be a way to protect him from Dolohov.

And yet, the images of fire and phantom burns that haunted her at night told her that _no, there would not be_.

In the end, he would get what he obtain his prize… but his prize would not relent so easily. His defense mechanism would kick in and the two of them would die.

Had she been asked before this all began, she would have said that that was what she wanted. Now, however, she wanted nothing more than to take the boy before her and shelter him from all of the dangers that the world had to offer… but she knew she couldn't. She was powerless, bound by the rules of fate. It was either him or her and she did _not_ want it to be her…

Not anymore.

"I will go call Tyr." Luce said, excusing herself.

Tsunayoshi sighed and prepared himself for the inevitable.

* * *

><p>Dolohov was a squat man with slicked black hair. His eyes were lined in black and he had horrible bags under his eyes but on the left side, there was a stitch-like pattern that went down his cheek and split at the base of his throat where it vanished under the lining of his clothes. Tsunayoshi had seen the man without a shirt and knew that the stitch pattern split in ways that it looked like patches were sewn together, some patches even being dyed darker to add to the effect.<p>

He also knew that each little 'stitch' represented a life the sadistic Russian had taken—a doll he had made. There were six hundred, eighty-three in total and each victim (because that's what Dolohov's kills were. They weren't targets if they wound up on that man's list—if he was even considered a man anymore) had various body parts ripped off and sewn back on in different places while they were still alive and died in whatever mangled, twisted form Dolohov deemed "beautiful" enough to pass as his work.

That was part of the reason Tsunayoshi found Dolohov distasteful. He never gave his victims any mercy, even when the crimes they had committed weren't as horrendous as their method of dying.

This was the Varia's Storm.

He silently wondered if it would become a tradition for all of the Varia's Storm Guardians to be mentally unstable and then shuddered at the thought. He certainly _hoped_ not…

Tyr strode in behind him in all of his glory. Tyr was heavily scarred with slash-like scars. His right hand seemed to have been burned in a fire. He wore a bandana on his head which hid most of his messy, _greasy_, inky black hair. His eyes were deep pits with flecks of gold and silver and every color you'd expect to see in the night sky. Had he been younger, not as heavily scarred and more concerned for his appearance, one might dare to call him attractive.

_Beauty is in the eye of the beholder_, Tyr always said and then he'd laugh. He really didn't give a damn how he looked.

Tsunayoshi had seen the man dressed up and it was a sight to see but it was rare. That was just the kind of man he was.

"You look like shit." Tyr said, waving a lit cigar at him.

"Thanks." Tsunayoshi said, giving him a dry, sardonic smile in greeting. "It's good to see you too, asshole."

"You see this? I'm here to _save_ his sorry ass and not only does he steal my Rain from me but he insults me to boot. I'm _really_ offended."

No he wasn't. He was _amused_. Tsunayoshi could feel it reflecting in his Flame to an almost intoxicating degree. It made him lightheaded and giddy. Although, after thinking about it, Tsuna couldn't really find out what was so amusing about his situation.

"…how is this amusing to you?" Tsuna asked.

Tyr barked out a rough sounding laugh. "I knew she'd fall for you. I wasn't expecting to keep her. The bond we had is the same one you seem to have with your Mist… although it is hard to tell with all that _Flame_ surrounding it."

"You're right. It's to keep it stable."

"Why so much?"

"It's not intentional." Tsuna gave him a cynical expression. "It's finally reached the point that my Flame has stopped doing my body good and has started eating away at my inner-workings…"

Tyr rolled his eyes. "You see, it's moments like these that remind me that you're only _sixteen_."

Tsunayoshi snickered. "At least you got my age right—Luce thought I was fourteen."

"He didn't. He had to ask _me_ how old you were." Dolohov said, looming creepily behind Tsunayoshi. The young Sky bristled and swept out a leg. Dolohov leaped and aimed to snap Tsuna's kneecap but the teen slid under where the man was supposed to land and managed to get his hands around the man's neck. "Do it, Tsunayoshi. I bet you already have a back-up plan. You'd never let me touch you—even if it _is_ to heal you. Even when you were the Varia's _Conscierge_, you went out of your way to get medical treatment elsewhere… tell me… who was the bastard you chose over me?"

Tsuna twisted with all of his strength and was rewarded by the sound of Dolohov's bones grinding and crunching. He leaped back and landed in a crouch. "Tch, disgusting. You've disfigured yourself so far…"

Dolohov's oddly twisted neck cracked and squelched as his bones moved back into place. "All for the sake of our little game, Tsunayoshi."

"You will die before you get what you want."

"Hnn, that's what you hope for, isn't it? To take me down in an explosion that shows just how bright your Will truly is? It won't work, you pathetic attention whore. I've said it once and I'll say it again. I will always be ten steps ahead of you. I know what you are going to do before even you do. And I've already come up with a counter measure."

"Oh? How can you possibly counter something as strong as my hate for you, Dolohov?" Tsunayoshi asked, glaring at the man. His eyes were no longer that beautiful orange that Luce loved. Instead, his eyes were one solid shade of red and it was terrifying.

Dolohov broke down in maniacal laughter. "Why, Tsunayoshi, it is so, _adorable_how much you doubt the lust of a grown man…"

Tsuna bared his teeth in disgust and swallowed his bile. _Disgusting_, he thought. "You should let me put him out of his misery, Tyr. He is too far gone now. It would be considered a mercy killing."

Tyr sighed but said nothing. He never said anything. He never _stepped in_. He let them rip each other apart.

"You're just as cowardly as you were that day," Tsuna spat before he could help himself. "You try to stay neutral but you're _not_. Pick a damn side or I'll choose for you."

"I'll side with the winner." Tyr said. "This fight is between the two of you. I will prevent you from killing each other while in doors because I don't want to clean up the mess you'll make but don't expect anything beyond that if we're outside."

Of _course_, Tsunayoshi sneered. He didn't know what was worse. The fact that he said it or the fact that it was the _truth_. Either way, it irritated him. He didn't know why. He expected this kind of behavior from Tyr so it was irrational to get irritated with the man.

"Your cure, as you've asked." He held out a tiny phial of blood. "Do you know how hard it is to come by this stuff? I didn't even know for certain until I tested it out myself. You got some powerful blood coursing through your veins, kid, I hope you know that."

"Hn," Tsuna couldn't help it if he stood a little straighter. "Vongola Primo has_outstanding_ genetics. It is an _honor_ to be his son."

"Oh?" Verde hummed. "A survivor from the Sky Compass project, then. You are the first I've seen at _this_ age."

Tsuna twisted to peer at the scientist. "You have met my cousins? Which ones?"

"The woman employed my services because her usual doctor was unavailable. Her name is Esta. She was one of the women who donated eggs but could not carry the child to term. Her eggs had been planted in a surrogate mother. She asked that I deliver the child. He was Secondo's son and she named him Xanxus. That was three years ago."

Tsunayoshi frowned. "Tyr…"

"Don't worry. I'll offer protection. I've met Esta before but I didn't know she had a son. I'll see if I can help her out a little bit."

Tsuna nodded, relieved. "Do not let him grow up like I did. Do not let _any_ of those that remain catch wind of him. He will be in danger if they even suspect the scent of one of their lost embryos."

Tsunayoshi's childhood memories were vague and always filled with an icy chill that never seemed to go away. He remembered steal walls and training courses… he remembered being monitored at all times and then… nothing.

The clearest memory he had was waking up with a photo in his hand. It was of a woman with long brown hair that was the same shade as his own. She was wearing a white sweater and she was smiling at the camera. He remembered that he had stolen the photo after he escaped from… somewhere bad… and that the woman in the photo was his mother. On the back of the photo, there was a name, an age and a company logo.

_Nanako_, 23

Namimori Photography and Design.

He had located Namimori on the map, located it to Japan, had even gotten an address for the woman in the photo.

But he had never gone there to meet her.

Something was stopping him—it wasn't fear… it was something solid. Something that made it impossible to stand when his intention to go became certain. The only thing that had the power to act out like that was…

_The Vongola Intuition_.

He tapped into it, asking it _why_. It had responded with something along the lines of _you will have your time_. Tsuna didn't understand and could not read anything beyond that. It was all white noise and unintelligible garble. He tried for pictures and could only make out what looked like a childish version of himself being held by a woman that looked like an older version of the woman in that picture.

He didn't understand.

He told it that and got a long, drawn out hiss in response. _In due time_, it had said.

Sometimes it was nice and then sometimes it did _that._

Tsunayoshi liked it on some days and hated it on others. That day, he had hated it.

At the moment however, when a high pitched ringing started in his ears to alert him of Dolohov's attention, he kind of hated it.

He let Dolohov do cursory glance over the damage that was done to his body. When he was finished, the dollmaker let out a whistle. "How are you still alive?"

Tsunayoshi stared at him. "It doesn't hurt that bad."

"That's because your nerves are fried from being burned. The damage has gone beyond third degree. By all means, you should be dead."

Tsunayoshi startled and than looked down at his hands. "Thus us the effects of Hyper Dying Will mode." He murmured. "Pain is on a different plane—one that I experience but do not _feel._" He looked past Dolohov at at Tyr who looked disgusted with himself. "Do not blame yourself, Tyr. This has always been my ability. All the serum did was made my body a conduit for Flames. I can use them for _much _longer than most Mist users can." Mist users were known to have the longest burn-time. The Flame could be used raw for thirty minutes before causing any burns. Tsunayoshi could go for forty-five when in combat.

Not so much when he was sitting still.

"You need to get rid of some of that excess power." Tyr stared at him.

"Hmm," Tsunayoshi was already working on that. The thing about the _pretty little marks_ on his arms and back was that they had their own ability. He could pour his Flame into the marks, turning them Sky Flame orange. He had used the ability once before—had enjoyed the rush that came with it.

They did other things but the internally based ones were the ones that Tsunayoshi relied on most because when he used the external abilities, they tended to drain him far too quickly for him to be of any use.

There were rare occasions when those flashy external combinations saved his life… but they were more trouble than they were worth.

So he waited until Dolohov went outside to wait in the car on Tyr's command and smirked. "You should be glad. I don't normally reveal this ability to _anyone_. Not even my Elements have the privelage of seeing it firsthand."

Tsunayoshi closed his eyes. He felt the heat from his Flame—empowered by the three bonds he had formed.

His Harmony exploded inside of him, repairing the damage done by his Flame. There was a brief second when he was consumed by pain before it vanished as quickly as it came.

When he was finished, he opened his eyes and almost fell over. There was no more orange in his vision. It was like going from seeing everything in sepia with touches of their original coloring to seeing in technicolor. He reached for Leon who was sitting on the side-table and silently ordered him to turn in to a mirror.

His eyes were flashing between orange and brown. He blinked and the orange tint settled over his vision again.

He'd pushed himself too far, he realized belatedly as a pounding headache settled at the back of his mind. He had never been pushed so far as to lose his grip on the Hyper Dying Will form he was stuck in, to be rendered _powerless_, as he had just now been.

"Checkerface needs to hurry up and send those missions." Tsunayoshi ran a hand through his long hair. "I am going a little stir-crazy."

"I don't think you'll be mentally stable enough to do any _work_." Tyr said. Tsuna gave him a sour look. "Don't give me that look. You know I'm not lying. You suffered severe trauma at Don Zeno's hands. That kind of emotional damage doesn't go away if left alone. You've only delayed having to face it." His expression softened and he put a hand on Tsuna's head, patting the locks down only or them to spring back up. "Consider this a blessing, although it may not seem like it. You've had time to mature before you come to terms with what happened."

Okay, maybe it as the Hyper Dying Will talking but he really couldn't understand what Tyr was so worried about.

He paused. Rape. Right. There was usually emotional fallout from things like that, wasn't there?

"I know you think yourself above emotions," The look Tsunayoshi gave Tyr could only be described as put-out and _pissed off_ all rolled into one. Tyr shot him a look back. "You only allow yourself to experience _neutral_ emotions."

That wasn't true but Tsunayoshi didn't correct him on the matter. It was none of his business anyways. Luce shot him a look that told him exactly what she thought about his choice to keep quiet before she disappeared into the kitchen.

"Look, kid, what I'm trying to say is…" He grumbled. "Come to the Varia estate."

"Hah?" Tsunayoshi looked at him incredulously.

"Maverick." He was their Cloud and he was a bit… eccentric.

"Haha, no." Tsunayoshi stood up, smirking at Luce when she came in and saw him standing. She threw her hands up in a motion that said _I give up!_ before striding back into the kitchen. "I'd rather deal with it on my own terms."

"Okay. Kick your Elements out of your room tonight. You won't take too kindly to their touch."

He doubted that. Sex was a pleasure he would never deny them. They could make him twist and beg in ways no one could. _That_ was consensual. What happened between he and Zeno was not. He stepped over a line that he should have never crossed and he paid the price for it.

In the end, what did it matter when the man was already dead? There was no taking revenge twice.

He just hoped he could remember that when he was on the road to recovery.

_**Tsuzukeru**._

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><p><strong><em>Thanks for reading~!<em>**


	6. Chapter 3: Completing the Rainbow

**_Author's Note: _**Revised 5/16/15

Hope you like the new version xp I know I do~

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><p>It was heart-wrenching to see, Reborn thought, to see him push everyone away as he tried to cope with what happened to him <em>alone<em>.

He was denying it had happened, still pretending that it happened to someone else, but that didn't stop the nightmares, the anxiety, the _trauma_ from happening. It was beginning to take a toll on his body and without the use of his Flame to heal the damage, he would not be able to keep this up…

So Reborn waited until late one night when he heard the kid on the rooftop, practicing what he only assumed to be formations he created to protect himself.

His fighting style relied heavily on fancy footwork. It took Reborn a moment to see the wires that had been set up in an intricate web. It kind of reminded Reborn of a spider weaving through its web—although if Tsunayoshi was the spider, that made him the bug and he wasn't sure he liked that thought too much anymore…

Tsunayoshi landed on a string and Reborn would hear a cord-like sound reverberate from it. "That's an odd way to utilize your weapon."

"I thought so too. That's why I do it." Tsunayoshi gave him a wicked little smile before he dropped into a crouch. "Would you care to join me in my Sky Web Symphony?"

The wires made a sound like a bow-string drawing across a violin. When he added his Sky Flame to the wires, it made the sound more unique. He used it to taunt those that got caught in the center of the web because the sounds did not cast from the direction they came from.

"...I'm rather fond of my current position, thank you." Reborn said carefully. Tsunayoshi laughed at him, cartwheeling onto one of the lower cords and making a steady strum fill the air.

"Reborn the Number One is afraid of heights?"

"_Au contrair_, Tsunayoshi, I like being up in high places… I just question the sturdiness of your wire."

"It's reinforced by my Flame. You will not fall." Reborn doubted that. A displeased sound from somewhere above him made him look up. Tsunayoshi was giving him the same sour look he gave Tyr the week prior. "Aren't you willing to trust me, Reborn?"

Reborn scoffed. "Your harmonization is not nearly so effective on me."

"It was worth a shot." Tsuna shrugged. "What if I bribed you?"

"It had better be a pretty damn good bribe."

Tsunayoshi brought his clawed fingers to his lips and let out a shrill sound. Down one of the lines came a little green lizard. "His name is Leon. I found him in an abandoned lab with a bunch of different kinds of animals that had been injected with the same serum I was. On animals, it gives them each unique abilities. It gave Leon the ability to shapeshift. He can turn into pretty much anything you want him to." Tsunayoshi's expression softened. "I've been using him with my Sky Flames but I can tell that he's not compatible. He's intended for an Element—the Sun Element, as a matter of fact. I didn't want to give him up but I won't be able to use him now that I don't have constant access to my core."

"He takes up too much energy?" Reborn asked incredulously. The lizard was so small.

"No. He takes too much _concentrated_ energy. I don't have the same level of control over my Flame in this form as I would in Hyper Dying Will mode." Tsunayoshi held out his hand and let the lizard crawl onto Reborn's hat. "He likes to sunbathe during the day but at night, he goes out to hunt. He's always back before morning and he never stays out past dawn."

"You have him _trained_?"

It was strange how many expressions someone could make, Reborn thought. Tsunayoshi's face seemed to be _overly_ expressive—had been from the day they met him. It was almost like he could tell what the teen was going to say before he said it.

Well, he thought wryly, at least he was fair. He could read the people around him like an open book and they could read him just as easily. It wasn't hard to work out that his expressions, his movements, his tone of voice… all of it was controlled and he was aware of all of it. That had not changed and Reborn could tell that he was relieved if his… over-dramatic gestures were anything to go by.

"I just ask him to do things and he does them. If he doesn't want to do them, all he has to do is say no."

It spoke levels of their… acquaintanceship that Reborn took him completely seriously.

"Will _you_ tell me no, my sweet _chaos_?" Tsunayoshi purred, holding out a hand. Reborn watched him warily. He had spent a lot of time around Luce to make up for his horrible first impression and she had given him some insight.

"_Tsunayoshi is just a child._" Luce told him. "_He does not see being a Sky and being human as one and the same. Instead of seeing himself as a different class of human, he excludes himself from the category altogether. It's a very lonely life, to live like that, and when he comes in contact with his own, he feels responsible for _taking care_ of them, be they a man or a woman._" She had smiled bitterly. "_I expected to see a cold-hearted killer. I got a scared teenage boy instead._"

Reborn didn't reply. He couldn't. The more he watched Tsunayoshi dance on the strings, the more Luce's words were reinforced in his mind. Tsunayoshi _was_ just a child. "Don't get so familiar with me." He said, his fedora tipping forward. Reborn reached forward and let Tsuna pull him into the web.

Balancing was a lot easier than he had thought it would be. The line was slippery so that he could move but it wasn't hard to stay still.

He wanted to go higher.

Laughter rang out from somewhere above him. "I knew you'd like it." He looked up to see Tsuna laying on a strand of wire as though it was a comfortable bed. Reborn wondered if that was comfortable because he certainly looked like he was enjoying himself. "I call this my _Maze of Mayhem_. It's my signature ability."

Reborn felt his blood turn to ice.

_Mayhem_.

Then he smirked. "I knew there was something _interesting_ about you."

Chaos, he thought, was best suited when cloaked in Mayhem. His smirk turned into a feral grin with he jerked his foot and caused Tsunayoshi to slip. The teen flailed and shrieked as his grip on the wire faltered and Reborn kicked off of the wire to catch him. He landed in a crouch on a branch to a nearby sycamore tree. "Thanks." He said dryly.

"My pleasure… can this knight in shining armor get a kiss for rescuing the princess?"

Tsunayoshi rolled his eyes before he dramatically clasped his hands together. "My _hero_!" He droned before planting a sloppy kiss on Reborn's cheek. He wiped away the slobber.

"You are such a child." Reborn said, shaking his head. "Let me show you a real kiss."

Reborn unceremoniously dropped Tsunayoshi who barely caught himself on his legs. He didn't have any time to recover before he was pushed back against the thick trunk of the tree and held there. He could only moan when Reborn's mouth slanted over his, their tongues tangling in a wrestling match that did not seem to want to end.

Tsunayoshi had felt only a flash of fear before he realized that he was still _armed_ and the wires were still in place. He still had complete control over the situation. Even if Reborn pushed a point, Tsunayoshi could just use his weapons to get away.

It wasn't until the morning after that Tsunayoshi realized that _maybe_ that had been intentional.

* * *

><p>Bonding with Reborn had been incredible. There was so much <em>power<em> that he had to offer—much more than Tsunayoshi had originally. Bonding with an Element that strong usually entitled an increase in his own power-cache but Tsuna really wasn't expecting to use his abilities any time soon.

It was actually kind of nice not having to use them.

But their peace came to an end the next day when they walked into the living room and found a dossier sitting in the middle of the table with a note from Luce.

_I've been called to the Vongola estate to have dinner with Nono. As it is rude to turn down a request, I am obligated to join. I do not know how long I will be gone but the seven of you will be left to your own devices until I get back. Try not to destroy anything._

Tsunayoshi ripped the note to shreds.

'_How the hell am I supposed to handle seven adults on my own?!_' He thought, tears of despair already welling in his eyes.

_He was doomed_.

* * *

><p>"<em>Look at me. I want to see you climax. I want you to see that it is <em>_me__ that is the one making you climax._"

Tsunayoshi shivered as those words echoed over the bond. Reborn was _teasing_ him, the sadistic fuck. He was making him relive last night over and _over…_

'_You're going to make me burn breakfast._' He broadcasted over their bond, snickering when the rest of his Elements gave them their own silent versions of _the bird_ through their Flames. It was actually quite amusing. He wished that Fon, who was helping him cook, could experience with them. He was the only one remaining.

Something told Tsunayoshi and Fon was not the type to come so easily, however.

"Is it truly so interesting having those kind of ties?" Fon asked.

Tsuna smiled at him. "It's only intensified because no one here is, by any means, weak. They are more in touch with their Element and can do things that most Elements cannot do—like communicate through a bond that was formed after such a short courting period."

"Four months is considered short?"

"Most Skies spend _years_ tempting and baiting their Elements before they see any results. I may have… sped up the process a bit by influencing them with my Harmony factor. Colonnello helped as well by displaying his dominance over me." Fon deserved to know. He was the most finicky and seemed to want to know what he was getting into before he got into it.

"Is it not the other way around?"

Tsunayoshi shot him a look. "A bunch of grown men are going to let me top." Saying it out loud made Fon see how incredulous his assumptions were. "I submit to them, in the end. All they do is humor my requests."

"What is it you usually request from your Elements?" Fon asked.

"Honestly? I haven't asked anything of them because I do not know why it is the six of you that were presented to me." His lips twitched. "If it is for the reason I think, his choice in Elements is a little off."

"What do you mean?"

"The Sky Compass project. What do you know of it?" He asked instead of answering.

Fon hummed. "I have heard about it from my _shisho_. Viper knows as much as I," He added quietly. "I know that the original purpose was to resurrect the first generation."

"That was their original purpose… but in order to do that, they needed second-hand genetics. They needed the First Generation's offspring…"

But those offspring were dead, Fon realized, and had been for a long time. The Zeno needed something fresh so they took matters into their own hands. They took direct descendents of the first generation—men and women—and combined the DNA to make a full genetic make-up that would match Vongola Primo's exactly. They would compare it with a capsule of blood—of Primo's blood—and use that DNA to fertilize the egg of a direct descended _woman_.

Tsunayoshi reached into his back pocket and offered him the laminated photo. "My mother." He said quietly. "A direct descendant of Primo's… or one of them, at least."

"You look like her." Fon commented quietly.

"...her husband is head of the CEDEF." Fon's eyes widened in shock and his head snapped up so fast that Tsuna felt a flash of concern. When Fon said nothing, Tsuna continued. "...it's funny. The last thing I remembered before waking up with that picture in my hand is fire.

"But it's not an ordinary fire, you see. It was a Sky Flame—it was warm and felt _safe_. I didn't know who the Flame belonged to but I could tell that they would never hurt me." Tsunayoshi looked down. "I wasn't supposed to make it out of the labs alive—I may not remember what the labs looked like but I knew that there was a slaughter coming and I was to be one of the faceless casualties… but I wasn't.

"It would take me years to decipher the memories and the strange words those men spoke but I will never forget what he said.

"_Y__o__u are my son,_" He recited in Japanese. "_You are of my wife's blood, of __my__ blood, and therefore I will call you my son… but it is not time to raise you as my own. That time will come later. Until then, I hope that you will always remember us. We wanted you. Never forget that. We just couldn't keep you under these circumstances._"

Fon looked… pale. He excused himself. Tsunayoshi knew he'd come back and explain himself later so he let the Storm go. In the mean time, breakfast was ready. He sent a jolt though his bond to let everyone else know and was only saved from being attacked by several irate men because he had food in his hands.

"Luce took off and I don't know when she'll be back. That means we're on our own." Tsunayoshi said, setting the tray of biscuits down.

Breakfast was tense and awkward but that heavy air was cleared when Skull said something that ticked Reborn off.

It didn't really. Skull was baiting the hitman and the hitman was humoring him. Skull was _asking_ for it from the hitman and the hitman was sadistic enough to oblige. It was amusing but it was good to know that his Elements would get along.

_His Elements_.

To be honest, he hadn't taken this whole thing seriously. It wasn't until he hooked Skull that he actively started to pursue them and they had responded easily. It had been like someone opened the flood gates and Tsunayoshi just couldn't get enough.

And yet…

There was something _off_ about their bond.

It was…

Well. If he was honest about it, and he really didn't want to be, it almost felt as though their ties _wouldn't last_.

He found himself wanting them to last for an eternity. If he had known that having those empty slots filled would feel so good, he would have actively hunted a lot earlier. The only reason he didn't outright regret it was because, if he hadn't waited, he would not have had _these_ Elements and these suited him just fine.

Tsunayoshi smiled. Everything was perfect, for the moment.

* * *

><p>There was something adorable about a Storm's ability to throw away their inhibitions and go all in when the time called for it. Fon had a lot of <em>passion<em> and loyalty and that made their bond sing. He almost couldn't keep up with the martial artist.

_Almost_.

He had expected to be repulsed by sex after putting a lid on the constant flow of his Flames because of the rape. He expected to flinch at every touch but instead found himself leaning into it. Nightmares were a job hazard so he was already accustomed to them and being a little paranoid could save his life but the control that he had lost that night he had gained back. It was like a shadow in the back of his mind that was almost forgotten.

He was relieved.

Of everything he felt, relief was the strongest. Being more in touch with his emotions would help him understand human nature better. It would help him interact with people outside of his Elements.

Two days after Fon completed the rainbow, Luce returned with a child in her arms. "This is my daughter, Aria." She said, smiling. "Aria, I'd like you to meet our family—_I Prescelti Sette_."

* * *

><p><em>She tried to keep them at a distance but slowly, she found herself liking them and before she knew it, she was attached.<em>

_Some things were inevitable, she found._

_She looked down at the box of pacifiers and sighed._

_Some things were just inevitable._

_**Tsuzukeru**._

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><p><strong><em>Thanks for reading~!<em>**


	7. Interlude: Reborn p1

**_Author's Note: _**Revised 5/17/15

Hope you like the new version xp I know I do~

I actually really enjoyed writing this. There will be a part two later on down the line.

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><p>It was the night of October 13th, 1930. The midnight air is crisp, fresh but thick with a dense fog that blocked out the moonlight and the street-lamps that illuminated the streets of Venice. It was quiet but occasionally, in the alley-ways, one could hear animals scuffling in the sewers or street-rats looking for food in the garbage bins behind various restaurants.<p>

In the house of a young Mafia affiliated business man lay a woman he had chosen to bare his offspring—the woman was probably no older than sixteen or seventeen years of age and an orphan as such was common in times such as these—lay on the floor, writhing, gripping and screaming as she forced out the child of a monster.

"Breathe, young mistress, just breath." The mid-wives urged. "Now, on three, I need you to push… one… two… three!"

Her screaming escalated as her body convulsed. Her hair was long black, dark as pitch and soaked with sweat. Curls lace through her naturally layered hair and her eyes were gold, piercing and cat-like. Her pupils dilated to their full width and almost, almost, changed the color of her eyes to black. Her body slumped back and her chest heaved while the mid-wives work and fuss over the baby she has just delivered—a boy with straight black hair—as he began to cry. It was a shrill sound but the woman, Celestine, enjoys knowing that her baby is alive.

All too soon, is the celebration cut short. Celestine's breathing begins to slow and one of the caregivers is attempted to wake her before she can meet the face of her maker. "Lady Celestine, Lady Celestine! Please, milady, you must open your eyes!"

As if sensing the distress, the child began to scream in agony.

All the while, as this is happening, a man—his hair is brown but his eyes are dark green with specs of silver rimming around his pupils—kicks open the door. "Where is he?" He asks calmly, through the commotion.

"You cannot see them! The young mistress is still givin—gah!" The woman guarding the door screamed when the man's foot lashed out and connected with her abdomen. Her body lurched before she stops moving altogether—the kill is fast. The kick had broken her spine. Hearing the shrill cry from the child, the man opened the door to the room that the woman he had chosen laid. "Celestine," The man greeted the thoroughly exhausted women. "Where is my child?"

The woman's yellow eyes snapped open and she glared furiously at the man. "You will have nothing to do with my boy! I will make sure of th—ah!" She screamed, curling over to nurse her now empty abdomen that throbbed painfully.

The scent of blood and birthing fluid was still thick in the air but the man never paid any of it his mind state, choosing only to stare deceitfully calm at the woman laying still in agony. "I bedded you and gave you my seed to produce an heir. If you wish to have anything to do with the child, you will tell me where he is or so help me—!" Whatever he's going to say is cut off by a gunshot that reverberated throughout the household. Behind him stood a woman with long, flowing white hair and glowing crimson red eyes. She was dressed rather scantly for this time frame—her shirt is only half the length it normally would be and the pants she wore were leather and they hugged her frame like a second layer of skin—but Celestine knew through some instinct that she was only sent here to kill the man that now lay bleeding on the floor.

Before she can thank the woman, however, Celestine felt her body spasm painfully. The mid-wives were in the next room, tending to the screaming child and dressing him but the ones that chose to remain there attempted to sooth her. "Lady Celestine will die." The woman spoke in a deep timbre, low and seductive but easily gentle. "Her heart has ruptured and this time frame lacks the technology needed to repair it. The only thing you can offer her is a painless death."

The white-haired beauty stepped forward and put a clawed—she wasn't but with as long and sharp as her nails were, she might as well have been—hand over her forehead in-between her eyes. Celestine's golden yellow eyes narrowed slightly before blanking out. She slumped forward but the woman was careful enough to catch her and lay her back in the bed.

"That's terrible…" One of the two women tending to the birth-mother's aide whispered.

"Terrible as it may be, the fool of a man didn't think to check her medical records before taking her. Her body was slowly collapsing into itself. She was not expected to live through the span of her pregnancy. I awaited her death so that I could send them both to the grave and not have to worry about the child but quite obviously, I made the wrong decision." The silver haired woman looked down at the mid-wives. The killer stood and the midwives gave her a wide birth. "Where is the child?"

"Y-you aren't going to _kill him_ are you?" One of them asked, horrified.

"No." They let out a sigh of relief. "But you are going to believe that I did."

"Wh—?" The midwife began before she fell to her knees.

Red eyes flashed and the rest of the midwives followed. They knelt there, staring blankly into space. "When I release you, you will tell everyone that _Zanna Obscura_ has struck again. You will tell them that it was she who killed the Don and the wife _before_ she gave birth." The white haired woman snapped and their heads cleared. In the same motion it took to disperse the spell, she flicked a match and dropped it on the ground.

Pulling the cloak so that the child and she would be protected from the icy fog, Zanna Obscura took off into the night with a sleeping child in her arms. "Tonight, you died." She whispered after stopping at an inn for the night. "But I brought you back from the ashes so you could be reborn."

Reborn.

Renato.

"Renato. My son, Renato. Do not make me regret my decision later on, little one. I do not want you to know the pain of abandonment but I am not above leaving you somewhere if you get in my way."

The child was fast asleep. Zanna sighed. "What am I to do?"

* * *

><p>When Renato was six, he was far more intelligent than other kids his age. In order to get him to sit through school (which he claimed was boring and under-thought), she taught him how to work with projectiles. It would be quite some time until they would figure out his Element.<p>

He knew about her night-job, knew that it would call her away and he was not allowed to come with, but he wanted to.

She could only shake her head and sigh. "Keep your hands clean until you are old enough to understand the implications of what you are saying."

He didn't understand. When he told her that, she rolled her eyes.

"Wait until you're older." She repeated.

Needless to say, Renato hadn't got that either.

* * *

><p>"Don't you have any friends at school?" Zanna asked Renato who was grouchily eating his cereal.<p>

"I have one friend. She's a bit weird though."

"Oh?" She wasn't so foolish as to ask if he was interested in girls yet. The last time she had, Renato had shot her the most disgusted look she had ever seen. She'd never seen someone look so offended and disgusted at the same time. His expression clearly read _what the hell would __I__ need a woman for?_ It had taken her a while to get over the expression. She was kind of thankful that she caught it on camera.

"She likes to pretend she's a boy."

"I did that when I was little. People look down on women," Although why was beyond her. Women did most of the hard work. Temptresses they may be, man would not exist if a woman was not there to carry him to term.

_That is a luxury __you__ will never have_, a snide voice told her. Zanna gasped and dropped the plate she had been cleaning. Renato looked up at her curiously. She shook her head. "It's nothing." She said, answering his unspoken question. "It's nothing." She repeated.

She knew Renato didn't believe her. If she was honest, she wasn't sure if she believed herself.

* * *

><p><em>She was gone<em>.

Renato swiped his arm over the vanity that his teacher, his _mother_, liked to sit at and write in that ratty old journal.

The journal…

Renato stood up, angrily wiping his eyes. She had told him that if anything happened to her, to take that journal to Vongola Settimo. They would offer him a place. The two of them were well acquainted—although his teacher refused to tell him how well.

He didn't know how but something told him that his teacher was never coming back. He had expected her to be gone but he had not expected her to be gone _this long_. It was almost a week before Renato decided to go into his teacher's room.

Her room had been completely wiped.

Someone had took her… and he was going to use the Vongola to find her.

* * *

><p><em>Sun Guardian.<em>

She wanted him to become the Vongola's _Sun Guardian_. The incredulity made him want to laugh hysterically. Or cry. Or both. He didn't know anymore. They would put him in a training program that would last the course of four years. In that time, he would learn how to preform the duties of the Sun Guardian and he would finish schooling. At the end of which, if he did not have his diploma, they would have one forged for him. After that, he and Daniella were expected to…

Ah.

...consummate an Elemental bond… with Daniella.

Vongola traditions were so fucked up.

It would take him a few years to realize that that was why his teacher sent him there.

* * *

><p>He was assigned a solo mission.<p>

In order to preserve what was left of the Vongola's funds, he was being ordered to take half of Don Al Capone's hidden treasure and convert it into liquid assets that would be directly deposited into the Vongola's treasury. He was ordered to do so by any means.

It didn't take him long to find his means.

Don Al Capone had not kept his hands as clean as he appeared. He had a daughter that he kept hidden from the public view—a daughter that had taken quite a fancy to Lorenzo Goodwing (Reborn's alias). For a while, the two of them danced a mockery of a lovers' dance… until she shot him.

She had stood over him and laughed. "You are the first person to get this close to my daddy's treasure. That means I won't send you back empty handed—if only because I'm feeling a little _sentimental_." She threw her house keys at him and he fought the urge to grunt when the metal made contact with the bullet wound. "The storage locker I rented has your half of the treasure. Take it and leave because if I _ever_ see your face again, I _will_ kill you."

He had not been the only one after the treasure, he realized belatedly as he was bleeding out. She had been on to him the entire time and had used him as a scapegoat. The only reason he was walking away with his life was because she truly had felt something for him.

That thought did not make returning to Daniella easy but in the end, she was the one who had his loyalty, not her.

* * *

><p>When Daniella had fallen ill, Renato could feel his heart shattering all over again. Their reign had been a short one but they had spread their message loud and clear throughout the mafia.<p>

_Leave innocence out of it._

Renato knew that her little bastard child would ruin it. He liked manipulating people too much, liked pitting people against each other. Renato would not stay with the Vongola after she passed. When he told his brothers in all but blood this, they understood as he expected they would.

He did not stay to watch her die, instead throwing himself into his work until the day of the Coronation when he healed his wounds, dressed in his finest suit and presented what had once been theirs to the new generation.

Daniella died the very next night and her Guardians were nowhere to be found—not that anyone expected them to be. Only Renato remained in constant contact with the Vongola, although he no longer did missions.

Instead, he just let himself drift as a freelance.

It was just easier that way.

* * *

><p>He wasn't expecting to see her—someone who remembered him from his child. The two of them had run into one another at the fishermen's marketplace in Venice and had caught up.<p>

Andreas Calidori was very unique but she had a fierce sense of loyalty and a fire that could not be put out by ordinary means. When they were younger, she liked to cut her hair short and wear pants like a boy would and that had cost her dearly. When their village had been invaded by soldiers, she had been taken. He had not seen her after that.

Until now.

He was glad to see that she grew out of her tomboyish habits. When he told her that, she laughed. "Being married can make any woman want to take care of herself."

_That_ was how he met Colonnello the first time. Andreas found his jealousy amusing but Renato found it irritating. As if he'd make a pass at a married woman…

But she had invited him to live with them and the blonde _was_ fun to piss off…

He should have known his peace would not last.

That reprimanding thought only strengthened when he watch Andreas fall after being struck in the head by a bullet that was meant for _him_.

**_Tsuzukeru._**

* * *

><p><strong><em>Thanks for reading~!<em>**


	8. Chapter 4: Out of the Pan

**_Author's Note: _**Now that the revisions are over, have an update!

**_THIS STORY HAS BEEN REVISED!_**

In case you did not catch it the first time, I have gone through and edited all of the chapters so that they flow easier. Yes, it is fast paced and yes there is a lot of time-skips but that is for the benefit of the sequel when ALL SECRETS WILL BE REVEALED.

Oh, yeah. No smut. Only implied smut.

* * *

><p>Tsunayoshi was careful not to use their bond to wake them up. He made sure to mask his presence and wake them individually. Their reactions had all been the same and their confusion was understandable but he couldn't let them stay here any longer.<p>

He had hoped that he was wrong—had hoped that Luce had doubts about her original agenda, even if he didn't know what it was—but when he strode past Luce's door and felt his skin prickle with raw Elemental energy, he knew that he couldn't stay.

There was danger here and Luce was about to throw them head first into it.

He woke them individually, pressing his palm to their mouth so they wouldn't alert anyone and whispering, "We have to leave. It has gotten too dangerous for us to stay. Pack your things and meet me at the airport in an hour. Bring the fake passports I made for you. They are untraceable, even for someone as resourceful as the Don Giglio Nero."

When his Elements were gone, Tsunayoshi sat down at the head of the dining table and put his feet up. He closed his eyes and reached for little Aria's presence. She was young enough that the act of looking for that little Flame alone would wake her. True to his prediction, the let out a shrill cry.

Ten minutes later, Luce walked down the stairs with Aria in her arms.

She froze at the entrance to the dining room. "What are you doing up so late?" Luce asked, smiling at him.

"Cut the crap, Luce," Tsunayoshi sneered. "I have ordered my Elements to scatter to the wind. Even if you knew the aliases I gave them, there is no way to track their passports which are _military standard_. The _mafia_ cannot touch them." He had implanted a film that could be traced using a radar that he created using his Sky Flame so that only he could find them.

"How long have you known?" She asked, her shoulders slumping. Aria made a displeased sound.

"For a while. It wasn't until I walked past your room earlier and felt raw _power_ coming from inside that I figured it out." He glared at her. "You intended to make the seven of us the new Arcobaleno."

Luce let out a choked sob. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'm so sorry."

Tsunayoshi spat at her feet. "No you're not. You're only sorry you got caught before you could finish your betrayal." He glared into her tear-stained eyes. "_Stay away from my Elements, Don Giglio Nero, or I will make your entire kingdom collapse around you_."

His Flame engulfed him and his presence vanished from in front of her. Luce stayed where she was. Even when Aria began screaming, she still did not move.

That was how Kawahira found her, hours later.

* * *

><p>When he arrived at his villa in Monte Carlo, everyone was silently and tensely awaiting his arrival. He walked in and let himself fall onto the sectional couch between Colonnello and Reborn. "Luce intended for us to become the next Arcobaleno." He said.<p>

Anger so strong it sent waves of nausea through Tsunayoshi settled over him. The Arcobaleno were referred to as _the cursed ones_ by all branches of the mafia. It was practically public knowledge that the Arcobaleno were rendered into the form of children to keep their Flames pure in order to power the pacifiers that acted as the foundation of the Trinisette.

"How could she?" Skull whispered, tears streaming down his face as the truth of Luce's betrayal truly settled over them. "How _could_ she?"

Tsunayoshi felt tired in more ways than one. It was the kind of bone-deep exhaustion every assassin felt at some point, just before they reached their breaking point. "I don't know," He whispered when Skull all but crawled onto his lap. He stroked the older teen's hair. "We will get through this." He said firmly. "Luce may have betrayed us but we don't need her."

'_...it would still be nice to have her around, however._'

* * *

><p>His Elements were distressed and it distressed him to know that he couldn't do anything about it. It wasn't until Leon licked his fingers that he got an idea.<p>

_I wonder…_

* * *

><p>Colonnello was reading a war novel when he found him. He dropped a textbook in front of him and was rewarded by making his Rain jump. "<em>Owning a Falcon<em>?" He asked, looking down at the title. When he looked up, he choked on air. "What the hell are _those_?"

The white-with-black-tips wings that were folded over his Sky's shoulders were… new. The wings glowed and turned into a falcon.

"_That_ is a textbook on how to take care of falcons. _This,_" He ran a hand over the bird's feathers. "...is Falco. He's your new partner." The falcon stepped down onto the table and eyed Colonnello critically before holding up a claw. "He wants to taste your Flames."

Colonnello stared at the bird before he shrugged and let his hand light. The bird squinted at the Flames before it let out a loud shriek and flapped its wings. The blonde jumped when he felt tiny claws prick at the back of his neck but not draw any blood.

"Take good care of him. I went through hell to get him and I'll give you hell if he dies because you don't know how to take care of him." Tsunayoshi tapped the book before he left, leaving the two of them alone.

Colonnello looked up at the falcon. "Falco, huh?" He asked. "Well, it's nice to meet you, kora!"

* * *

><p>"Where'd the idiot get the wings?" Lal asked that night when Colonnello was standing on the balcony with Falco on his back.<p>

"The same place you got your centipede." Tsunayoshi said, cocking his head towards the unusually large insect. His first reaction had been disgust but when he smelled the multi-Flame compatibility, he knew he had to get it for Lal. It would be a while before she could use the ability to its fullest potential but for now, it would suit her needs just fine.

"Falco is a shapeshifter like Leon, although he only has two forms. He can lift three-hundred times his own weight so even when he's _not_ in that form, he can still fly him around." The mental image of a falcon dragging Colonnello all over the place made him snicker. "I think I should go give him flying lessons before he falls and breaks his neck."

Lal watched Tsunayoshi step out onto the balcony. His words were muffled by the sliding glass door but she could hear him talking.

"What do you think?" Reborn asked.

"Of what? Our… gifts?" Lal asked. Reborn didn't tell her that he had gotten Leon before tonight, didn't see the point. She assumed that he had gotten him at the same time they had gotten their animal partners—each with a unique ability that matched their Element. When questioned where he got them, Tsunayoshi hummed and replied with '_it's a secret._'

"Of how he's coping with Luce's betrayal."

Lal grimaced. "He's running away from it."

"Luce will come back for us. She did not see us as solely _his_." He cocked his head towards the teen that had stepped up onto the ledge of the balcony. Reborn looked like he wanted to join them.

"If you want to go out there, ask if you can join." Lal said. "He does not seem like the type to turn us away."

Reborn's fedora tilted forward. "I will get my time later. I wait to have him to myself after everyone is asleep."

"Oh? How's that work?"

Reborn smirked. "The last person to go to bed is the one that gets to sleep with him in the master bedroom. Have you slept in that bed? It's _heavenly_."

"I haven't, actually."

Reborn snickered. "I'd offer you to join but there is not always _sleeping_ going on."

Lal rolled her eyes. "Maybe when he's older." She said. "I don't do kids."

"He does not consider himself a kid." Reborn mused.

"He's not. He's a teenager which is worse." Lal grumbled. Hormones were a bitch, even for her. She could only imagine how it was for guys.

"...how are you coping?" Reborn asked after a moment.

Lal shrugged. "I saw it coming. The reason I bonded with Tyr was because he made what he wanted clear. Tsunayoshi has made it clear that he knows he is too young to know what he wants and has asked that we wait… and I am more than willing to oblige. That kid is going to turn in to one hell of a leader when he gets older. Hell. It wouldn't surprise me if he started his own Famiglia or took over the Vongola."

"They will never see him as an heir." Reborn said. Timoteo was far too closed-minded to allow an outsider like Tsunayoshi to take the mantle he all but stole greedily from his mother's hands…

When Timoteo took the mantle, Reborn left the Vongola. He continued to protect Ottavo, to serve her, but he no longer served the Vongola. He remained allied with them but nothing more. It broke his heart when she died since she was the first Sky he ever formed a bond with. He had served as her Sun Guardian before she died and after, he passed his Ring down to his successor. The Elements that he had been bonded to were all gone—dead or hidden so far out of the mafia's reach that Reborn, even with all of his resources, would never find them… not that he would want to. That life was nothing more than a fleeting memory to him.

'_I feel old._' Reborn grimaced at the thought. Physically, he was only twenty-four. He was done maturing and the changes that came with aging were negated because of a special bullet released by the _Vendice_, of all the possibilities, that slowed down the aging process. It was a Dying Will bullet encased in Sun Flames. In the hollow points was a gel-like substance that fused half of your cells with a small portion of Sun Flames that allowed them to work at twice the rate without dying out. As long as those cells remained, the aging process would be slowed down considerably and the healing process, sped up.

Whenever he was asked for his real age, he told them he was thirty.

He was lying. He was thirty-seven.

And yet, he was _not_ the oldest.

There was a clatter outside and Reborn craned his neck to look. Colonnello had fallen backwards and had landed upside-down. His shirt had lifted to reveal his abdomen which was littered with scars. '_From fighting in the war,_' He recalled. Colonnello's wife, although illegal for women to serve, had been taken by soldiers to serve in World War 2.

It didn't help that she dressed up like the local paper boy would.

Colonnello, however, was much older than he was, having been born in the twenties. He had been shot by a much earlier prototype of the bullet from what he remembered, while the serum that was injected to the hollow-point bullets was being used as a cure for PTSD.

The slowed aging had been a side effect. The Family that created it, working on orders of the German Army at the time, was anhilated by Vendice and their research was used to make bullets that would benefit the Mafia. It made the strongest of the time live for longer to leave a lasting impression on the underground.

That wasn't to say the bullets didn't kill. The sped-up healing and slowed-down aging was only a side-effect of _surviving_ the bullet but the kill rate was very high and the recovery rate of the bullet fragments that were left inside of the corpse was way below the average count. No forensic team could identify the bullet because to them, it didn't exist.

_That_ was the reason it was so famous, not because of the side effects. The side effect only came from surviving a _fatal_ shot. It had only been given the nickname _Immortality Bullet_ because it drastically increased one's life expectancy _if_ they had the resolve to cling to life long enough for the serum in the bullets to reverse any damage done. The process was fast and burned like a mother fucker. It left a soft pink scar that was slightly indented where the bullet went in but Reborn had used his Flame to heat his fingers enough to add scar tissue to it early and then he burned it so that it would be smooth when it healed as to not hinder his vision.

Evangelique had been merciful because she loved him. She had hit his left shoulder, just barely missing his heart, and when she threw the keys, Reborn had seen a flicker of platinum.

He turned his head and saw the platinum engagement ring he had used to purpose laying in his own blood. She had made her message clear. She was hurting him before he could hurt her.

But he had never planned on hurting her. He was going to take her back to the Vongola—ask for Daniella's acceptance. He had planned to live a _life_ with her. Just because he was a Vongola Guardian did not mean he was not allowed to marry an outsider. He could marry whoever he damn well pleased, although he would have liked for Daniella to approve before he did. She had quickly taken up residence in the spot his teacher had left empty, warming him in the same ways his teacher had.

It had hurt when she fell ill and he knew that the only reason she lived long enough to pass the mantle down to Timoteo was because she had made a deal with one of the Dons that resided within the Rings. He had not asked when Knuckle told him although he suspected it was Primo and it had to involve him somehow because Knuckle had not showed up alone to tell him. The First Storm Guardian, G, and Alaude, the First Cloud had shown up as well.

He feared what that promise entailed and something told him that he would be meeting them again so there would be no need to ask now…

So he didn't.

He presented the Ring and left, hours after Daniella's death. His fellow Guardians had done the same. He had not heard a word from them since.

Sometimes he thought he was better off just _erasing_ that part of his life from his mind. It would be safer and he knew he'd be better off for it but he could never bring himself to do it. He reasoned with himself, telling himself that those memories would shape him for his new Sky, whomever it should be. Looking at it now, he was glad he didn't. He wouldn't have known which buttons to push with Tsunayoshi otherwise.

With anyone, really.

Lal huffed. "What are you thinking about?" She asked.

Reborn smirked. "The days before I became a freelance." He paused, glancing at her. She was giving him a look of understanding. He rolled his eyes. "Let me guess,"

"I've seen the painting." Lal smirked. "You were rather cute then…"

Reborn smirked, tipping his hat to Lal. "You aren't bad to look at either, _signora_."

Lal rolled her eyes. "Idiot."

* * *

><p>Flying, Colonnello decided, was <em>epic<em>.

He was not used to his new wings but Tsunayoshi was and he showed Colonnello his skill. The two of them had flown to the cliff-side and landed on one of the unmarked beaches. They walked for a while, talked about how much has changed before they took to the sky again.

On their way back, Tsunayoshi miscalculated the size of one of the clouds and had ended up flying straight through it. He stopped in mid-air, coughing to clear his lungs. Colonnello circled back and hovered next to him. "Are you alright, kora?"

"I'm fine." Tsunayoshi rasped. "Let's just get back."

The two of them landed on the balcony in crouches. The wings began to glow and retract until only a falcon remained. Falco let out a screech before he took off to hunt.

Colonnello collapsed in a heap on top of Tsunayoshi when he sat down on the couch. "Ouf! Get off me, you moose!" Tsunayoshi groaned, trying to shove him aside.

"Oh come on, we both know you could send me through the wall if you really wanted to."

Tsunayoshi gave him a self-deprecating grin. "I can't anymore. I'm not in Hyper Dying Will mode anymore. In this form, I'm as weak as I look which means you are friggin' _heavy_." He shoved at the blonde who only shifted into a more comfortable position. Tsunayoshi shook his head. "What if I have to go to the bathroom?"

"You can hold it." Colonnello said. He grinned. "Or you can buy a new couch, kora. This one needs replaced anyways."

"_Idiot_." He heard Reborn, Lal and Tsunayoshi say before suddenly he was rolled off of the couch and dropped onto his ass. He yelped, rubbing his lower back.

"That was mean!"

"And you're high off of adrenalin. No more flying after sundown." Colonnello made a sound from the back of his throat and Tsunayoshi gave him a level stare. The two of them stared one another down before Colonnello looked away.

Tsunayoshi stood up and stepped over his Rain who shifted his leg just enough so that it would catch the teen's leg. Reborn was expecting him to ignore it as though it wasn't there. What happened was Tsunayoshi's weight distributed unevenly on his foot causing it to fold up underneath him. His head collided painfully with the side of the coffee table, stunning them all into silence.

When Tsunayoshi looked up, one eye was closed from the pain and tears had formed around the edges of his eyes but the teen seemed oblivious to them as he rubbed the spot where he hit his head. "...I can't tell if that was my own fault or yours."

Oh, Reborn could.

"I didn't know you were a clutz." Reborn commented.

A flush spread over the boy's cheeks and Reborn felt a sot of sadistic glee at the feeling. "...it's only when I don't have any traces of Sky Flames present in my system."

"I _told_ you not to over exert yourself—" Colonnello began but Tsunayoshi shook his head.

"No." He said quietly. "Something… _drained_ me of my Flames."

"What?!" Colonnello sat upright. His eyes widened. "When you flew though that cloud!"

Tsunayoshi nodded. "I do not think… that it was a normal cloud." Suddenly, Tsunayoshi clutched his throat. Why couldn't he _breathe?_

"_Mayhem._"

Viper collapsed with a scream, clutching her head before she passed out. Fon caught her and held her close as the air rippled and a portal opened in a way that _everyone_ in the mafia knew to associate with…

_Black cloaks, white bandages and the haunting sound of chain-links clicking together_.

Tsunayoshi stood slowly but kept his head down. When he looked up, his eyes _glowed_. He smiled but everyone in the room got the impression that he was baring his teeth while trying to be nice about it. It was not a pleasant smile because this one clearly stated that he wanted whoever it was directed at _out_.

"Good evening, _Vendice_."

_Tsuzukeru._

* * *

><p><strong><em>Thanks for reading~!<em>**


	9. Chapter 5: And Into the Fire

**_Author's Note: _**Hmm. It's good to see that this muse has decided to... stick around. And not shut up. Hmm. How am I supposed to get anything done if this kind of stuff keeps coming up and slapping me in the face?

Just a heads up. The next **_four_****_ chapters_** are going to be interludes. After those interludes, there will be a two-year time skip.

* * *

><p>Luce screamed as she was thrown into her illusioned bedroom and beat.<p>

Blow after blow landed on her and all she could do was curl in a ball and protect herself from the worst of the blows. She felt his kicks snap her arm. After he was done beating her, he picked her up by her hair and jerked her so that she was inches away from his masked face. She tried to get him to aleviate some of his grip on her hair by tugging at his wrist but she did not seem to have any effect on him.

So she clenched her jaw and stared back at him defiantly, not willing to let him see her crumble.

"You seem to have forgotten your loyalties, Luce." Thorny vines manifest and wrapped around her arms and legs, pulling them so that she was spread and defenseless against him. Her arm burned and she felt the need to do _something_ so she spat at him but he stepped back so that the bodily fluid did not touch him. Kawahira ran a hand down her cheek before slapping her.

He grabbed her face and squeezed her cheeks. "Do not worry though. I will remind you soon enough."

* * *

><p>"<em>Good evening, <em>_Vendice_."

Skull 'eeped' and hid behind Reborn. The assassin took on a defensive position, as though the Vendice officers standing before them would attack them. '_But we haven't done anything wrong._' They had had no connection to the mafia these past few months.

"_Down, Jager. Tsunayoshi has done nothing wrong._" Another portal rippled and a child wrapped in the Vendicare uniform stepped out. "_All of you, except for Jager, may leave._" They went, leaving no trace of their existence behind.

"Bermuda." Tsunayoshi said, the pleasant smile falling. His eyes remained amber. "You should have given me some forewarning." He smiled sardonically at the Vendicare boss. "I would have tidied up the place a bit more." To emphasize his point, he bent down—_don't do that, idiot, that's a __vulnerable position!_ several of his Elements screamed at once over the bond causing him to wince—and rearranged the pillows that were knocked off when Tsunayoshi knocked Colonnello off of the couch.

He could practically taste their shock when the Vendicare boss did not attack.

"_My apologies but there was no time. Once I heard the news that you had been selected as the next Sky Arcobaleno, I tried to seek you out. This is the first time in four months that we, the Vendice, have been able to sense you and your new… Elements._"

Tsunayoshi tensed, his eyes narrowing. "Is that a problem?"

Bermuda seem to stare at him for a moment before he shook his head. "_No. I had merely come to see if you were… coming out of retirement, so to speak._"

Tsunayoshi took in a slow breath. "I was never hiding, Bermuda. The Giglio Nero requested an audience with what they considered to be the mafia's elite. I don't need to guess that those rankings came from Vendicare's records."

"_And imagine my surprise when the seven of you show up here… __bonded__._"

Fon held Viper close to his chest and tried to block the waves of Will power that rolled off of his the same way water would stream over a rock. It had been too much for Viper to bare, with her newfound sensitivities. Fon could tell that Verde struggled to stay upright around them as well and the Sun…

The Sun was _furious_. He stared at the Vendice leader as though he had a personal vendetta against him. Colonnello seemed to notice as well. "Easy, kora. I don't know what you found out that night but you need to calm down before that incident repeats itself all over again."

That had been the wrong thing to say, apparently, because whipped around and _snarled_ at the Rain. "I am not foolish enough to allow history to repeat itself."

Fon shivered as ice took over his body and black spots began to fill his vision. "R-Reb..." Fon gasped, clawing his throat. He could not handle more than one aura pressing him down like a weight and Reborn, although smart enough to control it under normal circumstances, was not as capable of doing so when he was _upset_.

The pressure abated and he felt Reborn checking his core—as long as his core was undamaged, physically, he could be restored.

In theory, anyways. Fon didn't want to be the one to test it out.

Still. It was nice he cared.

"Sorry." He growled, looking down at his hands. He had almost…

Viper stirred, groaning. She'd adjusted to the pressure but it still hurt to move from the way her breath hitched. Vendicare's presence was overwhelming her. "Tsunayoshi…" Fon said worriedly, catching the Sky's attention.

Tsunayoshi strode past the wrapped infant known as Bermuda and knelt to brush her bangs aside. "Those stitches… she did those herself."

Fon frowned but nodded.

"The _Eye of the Basilisk_ ability she has can be controlled—as can those sensitivities… however, I am not the kind of Sky she needs. Before she bonded with me, she told me of a spell that allowed her to look into the future. In the future she saw, she felt a sense of finality.

"Don't lie to me, Bermuda, it is unsightly and unlike you. Of _all_ people," his aura pulsed causing the air around them to ripple with Sky Flames. "You should know that I detest being lied to."

Bermuda inclined his head. "_Are you trying to cow me, Tsunayoshi?_"

Tsunayoshi gave him a wintry smile. "Nothing of the sort. I am simply going to leave you with this warning—even if my own are lured into the trap that is the Trinisette, you are not to touch them. I have marked them as mine. That means they go where I go and I have decided that I rather like being freelance." He paused, giving the Vendice boss time to swallow his shock. "Don't think that I can't read you, Don Bermuda. I can read _everyone_. People are open books to me. Your fears, your tears, your past. I know it all within a single glance. Somewhere in my mind, there is a portion of you that resides and I've been reading from it ever since."

"_Why you-!?_" Jager pulled at his chain, preparing to attack when Bermuda raised his hand in a signal to _cease_.

"_...I have heard your message loud and clear, Tsunayoshi, but hear mine. The Giglio Nero have always been above Vendice law because of their tie to the one person that controls the distribution of the Trinisette. When the Giglio Nero come for you, they will not be kind and I cannot protect you._"

Tsunayoshi sighed and knelt before Jager. His Flame burst to life on his forehead and his Flame ran down his back causing the black tattoos to become alight with Sky Flames. Bermuda leaped from Jager's shoulder and landed in front of Tsunayoshi. "Show me what haunts your dreams, Don Bermuda. As your _starry sky_, it is my job to light your path. What is it you desire?"

Bermuda was silent for a long moment before a colorless flame lit on his fingertips. He reached out and pressed that cold, glowing Flame to Tsunayoshi's. For several moments, neither of them moved but then Tsunayoshi's Flame flared like a supernova encased in black shadows so that only specs of light shone through.

_Like the night sky._ Tsunayoshi whispered over their bond. _The Vendice will never harm me and now, because you are my Elements, you are apart of me and that means that they will never harm you either._

_At what price?_ Someone whispered. It could have been multiple people but the after-effects of the Night Flame that the Vendice were so fond of made it hard for him to tell precisely _who_ it was.

_One that has already been paid_. It was Fon who answered. Tsunayoshi nodded.

They all quieted. Tsunayoshi looked up at Bermuda. "You need not protect me—I can do so on my own. What I need you to do is protect _them_." He motioned to his Elements. "The Giglio Nero may be out of your reach but you are in her blind spot."

"_This is a dangerous game you are playing, Tsunayoshi. The Giglio Nero are not known for their mercy._" They may appear regretful but they were amongst the cruelest, seconding only to the Vongola. Tsunayoshi did not know what she was capable of if forced to show her hand.

He had a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him that Luce, the woman that had all but _presented_ him with Elements, had been dealt a very bad one.

_My Elements, my dearest Elements. The time has come for your Sky to go to war to get back something we lost. I left Luce, not because she was throwing us into the fire, but because if I didn't, she would be in more danger than we were. This way, the life of her and her daughter can be spared and she can continue to be our light, our leader. I will come back in two years time. Until then, survive. Wait for me—but I beg of you, do not look for me._ He whispered over the bond. He felt their Flames jitter around his and he sighed. They were worried for him, for Luce. _Believe in me, for as long as you do, I will always find my way back._

"If you leave, you had better take Leon with you." Reborn said coldly and Tsunayoshi stepped back as though he had been slapped. His expression softened. "So that we can at least have some form of contact." He added quietly.

Tsunayoshi's throat contracted. So even Reborn, huh?

They all wanted her back.

He smiled. "Don't worry, my own. When I return, I will have Luce and little Aria with me… and then, we can be a family again. Until then, allow Bermuda to relocate you. Some of you will return to where you were before we met but those that don't, those that are relocated to new cities to live normal lives or double lives, know that I will return for you. This is only temporary. All I ask is that you wait for me."

_Wait for me, huh?_

Lal sighed. "Alright. But you'd better come back in one piece, brat. I'll never forgive you if you don't."

_Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, no?_ Tsunayoshi teased. Lal flushed.

_Idiot_.

Tsunayoshi's laughter followed her down the hall when she left. She'd never tell him that she _liked_ it when he teased her.

* * *

><p>Kawahira was a master of the mind but Luce had the patience of a saint but even a saint had limits. The constand <em>drip, drip, drip<em> of the water from the bucket above her was really starting to grate on her nerves. When the bucket was empty, she recalled Kawahira telling her, the real fun would start.

She found herself hoping the bucket's constant dripping would slow down, just a bit, so she could savor her memories for a little bit longer.

She knew no such luck.

Even without foresight, she knew that there was enough water in the bucket to keep this up for 48 hours (damn thing was more like a stockpot with a hole drilled in the bottom of it with a screen placed over the hole to prevent it from coming out in a constant stream.

It wasn't until the dripping stopped entirely that she her body jerked as images and emotions were forced behind her eyelids, forcing her to watch as she was rescued.

The vision was so strong and nauseating that, when Kawahira walked in, she began to cry. He mistook her tears of joy for those of anguish because her vision filled her with hope. _They had not abandoned her._ She did not need to look up from her hands to know that he was smiling at his progress. He expected her to still have her mental stability.

_Good_.

A broken Sky could make sounds a whole one never could… but then, perhaps he would not need it for this realm. This Luce did not seem as resilient as those he had met before her...

"There's no need for that." He said, snapping his fingers and releasing her. Luce crumpled to her knees before him and kept her head on the floor in submission. He raised an eyebrow at the change. "Tell me, Don Giglio Nero, who is it that you serve?"

She looked up, making her eyes look dead to him. Her response made his smile turn into a teeth-baring grin.

"_You_."

**_Tsuzukeru_**.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Thanks for reading~!<em>**


	10. Interlude: Sky Compass

_**Author's Note: **_See next chapter for Author's Note.

* * *

><p>Nana could not have children.<p>

When she first heard the verdict from the doctors, that she was infertile, she thought that there had to be a mistake. She did everything she could to conceive but to no avail. It wasn't a common practice—still experimental—but when she got a flier in the mail for invetro-fertilization, she practically jumped at the opportunity.

When she got there, she had been informed that her husband's seed had already been extracted. She found it odd and there was always a small part of her that wondered if it was really true or not but, nine months later, when she was holding a baby boy with her caramel-colored eyes and hair, she knew it didn't matter because this was _her son_.

"Tsunayoshi. My sweet Tsunayoshi." She whispered, holding the boy close. She was exhausted but her son was here so it was all worth it. "Welcome to the world."

But her happiness was short-lived. As soon as she was released, as soon as she planned on telling Iemitsu the good news, her boy was taken.

She screamed and yelled, hired detectives, assassins—anything she could get her hands on—but her son was _gone_.

It was late one night when she was contemplating ending her own life that _they_ came.

The man in the checkered mask and the girl with the white dress.

"Your son is not dead." The little girl and Nana was overcome with an eery _calm_. "In fact, he will return to you."

"When?" She whispered.

"Now, now," The man said and Nana wanted to scream in fear because there was just something _wrong_ about his presence—or lack thereof. She was not sure, all that she knew was that these two were _unnatural_. "I will grant you the gift of a second chance with your son—however, it is important that you don't ask _any_ questions when I do."

Nana frowned. "How will I know that what you're bringing back is truly… my son?"

A crafty smile spread over the visible part of his face and Nana shivered. "I give you my word that, who I bring to you, will be your biological son—however, one day, the people that he touched while being separated from you will come back to retrieve him. I ask that you do not fight them for your son is very special and plays an important role in maintaining the balance of this world. I will give you your son back—give you a second chance to raise and nurture him—but you cannot ask any questions and you cannot _keep_ him."

"I don't understand. Why are you doing this?" Nana whispered, filled to the brim with joy, fear and anguish. "I'm cursed..."

She did not expect the masked man to laugh at her. "No, madam, it is not you that is the one that is cursed." His smile widened into a teeth-baring grin. "Your son is."

Nana wondered what he meant but when she woke up the next morning, she had no recollection of ever having a son.

* * *

><p>Esta Diamonatique wanted to have children so bad but she couldn't carry her child to full term. Esta had long, wavy black hair and garnet eyes that seem to glow in an alluring way. She carried herself as though she was better than everyone, as though she had no time for incompetence. It scared some off but those that dared to approach her were sure to remember her.<p>

But her striking beauty came at a severe price. Half-way through the pregnancy, something in her body would shift and kill the child before the due date. Three children were already forcefully terminated because her body was _flawed_.

When she got a flier in the mail, she knew that this was the only chance she would get. She was young and beautiful but she had a nasty temper so no man wanted anything to do with her, in fear that she would scratch their eyes out. She had tried learning restraint but no matter what she did, she always seem to turn back.

She hoped that having a child would change that. She knew she would treat a child of her own flesh and blood better than she would those nasty men.

"Do you have a husband?"

She lied and told them she did. When they asked for his name—to see if they had his DNA, she was told—she gave them a fake name. She was horrified when they came back and said that they had it _but_ she couldn't bring herself to care.

"It says here that your body cannot carry a child. There is an experimental procedure that lets someone else carry your child—there are three women here currently that match your blood type. Would you like to ask one of them if they can carry your child?"

Esta leaned forward. "Yes." She said, tears of joy already streaming down her cheeks. The good doctor smiled.

"This way then." He stopped outside of a door. "Wait here please." When he walked in, Esta could hear the doctor talking. There were a few exchanges but Esta couldn't make any of it out. When the doctor walked out, he looked pleased. "I have good news—one of the women volunteered to help. Nanako, will you please come out here?"

A beautiful woman with long brown hair stepped out. She smiled at Esta who, belatedly, scrambled to do a half bow. "It's nice to meet you." She said with lightly accented Japanese. Nanako looked relieved. "My name is Esta."

"I'm Nanako but please call me Nana. I heard you needed someone to carry your baby?"

* * *

><p>The clinic burned down before the procedure could be done.<p>

Esta remembered sobbing into Nana's chest. Her only chance to be a mother, ruined.

The next day, the newspapers released a statement—the semen samples that were labeled with different names all came from three different people. The children that matched the DNA samples found just seem to vanish.

And the entire time she read the newspaper, Nana felt a dull ache take root at the base of her skull.

What was that strange feeling?

* * *

><p>"Where did they get Vongola Primo's semen?" Luce asked, somewhat horrified.<p>

Kawahira set his teacup down. "It is my belief that, if a bloodline is in danger of collapsing, the Vendice will pull a hair-brained scheme like this in order to renew it."

"_Why_?" Luce asked.

"I do not know." Kawahira admitted. "I can tell you this—of all of the times I have met Tsunayoshi, this is the first time I have met him in this time period."

Luce, who was only 9 at the time, frowned. Kawahira had raised her, taught her everything she would need to know, so she called on that knowledge in order to connect the dots. That would mean that… "Wait… that means that… this Tsunayoshi… he was not supposed to be born yet?"

Kawahira smiled. "Exactly."

**_Tsuzukeru._**

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><p>Esta Diamonatique is the name I gave to Xanxus' mother since it's not ever actually revealed... is it? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.<p> 


	11. Interlude: Colonnello's Marriage

_**Author's Note: DO NOT SKIP CHAPTER 10 (Interlude: Sky Compass)! It contains important information that will throw you off if you skip it.**_

So remember. This update releases _**TWO**_ chapters. Before you read this one, go back and read _Sky Compass_.

I posted two Interludes because they are really short, just barely reaching the 2k mark with both of their word-counts combined. Now that I have internet again, my updates will become more frequent.

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><p>Andreas had short brown hair cut into a bob-cut that she curled so she matched the trends in America that she had become accustomed to after they had traveled their for their honeymoon. Their relationship had taken a turn for the better and they moved in after the war had ended and no longer did Colonnello see Andreas as his hot-headed second-in-command.<p>

Andreas couldn't have kids, Colonnello found out, and that was why the commanding officer didn't give a rats ass if she was a woman or not. She was a damn good fighter and after she proved herself on the battlefield, the guys didn't give a damn that she was a woman. In the end, she pulled twice the weight—her own, because no one was willing to support her, _and_ her squadron's.

Misogynistic bastards, she thought spitefully. She taught them. She taught all of them.

They weren't alive to tell the tale, however. When she and Colonnello had been captured by Russian forces, the two of them had come out being the only survivors. They had been held for years until the war ended and they were dumped off of the coast of one of the beaches in Palermo. The Italian Army found them, treated their wounds, fixed their minds and gave them a nice lump sum of cash that would help them live happily until they died.

It had lasted for five years before things got, well, _boring_.

Their life was simple but it was _too_ simple.

This would have been the part where they had kids but since she _couldn't_, the two of them were just getting _bored_.

Until Andreas' old friend—a _childhood_ friend, she told him—showed up.

The guy rubbed Colonnello the wrong way. Everything he did just irritated the fuck out of him. From the way he talked to his everyday habits, the guy was just. Fucking. Irritating.

But for all his irritating habits and traits, Colonnello could tell that his presence made Andreas happier so he put up with him. It helped that he was easy to look at—hell, if Colonnello had an interest in men, he would have said the man was attractive but during that time, he hadn't even thought about climbing in bed with another man.

That is until Colonnello walked in with Reborn shoving his tongue down his wife's throat.

He wasn't angry, he realized later. He had been jealous… of his wife.

Andreas knew him better than anyone else so it was no surprise that, after figuring out what the hell he was feeling, he walked in to find the both of them _on his bed_, stark raving naked—_and holy hell, that was supposed to fit __where__?_

He had a vague idea of how sex between two men was supposed to work but there was no way in hell he was going to be on the receiving end. Unfortunately, Reborn was _very_ persuasive.

It really should have stopped after the first night. Colonnello's legs were too shaky to support his weight in the aftermath. But somehow, it turned into a rivalry that had them striving to outdo the other.

It wasn't boring anymore.

But just when it was starting to get fun, a couple of punks thought it would be funny to break into the house and steal. Reborn heard them, killed two of them and went after the third only to find that he was holding Andreas.

She got away. She always got away but, even with as skilled as he was at the time, Reborn was not fast enough to get the gun away from the last intruder before he fired off a shot.

It was sloppy and meant for him—aimed for his heart—but the gunshot had set off the hair-trigger all soldiers had. In her attempts to dodge the bullet, Andreas had fallen straight into its path and had paid for it with her life.

When the funeral was over, Reborn and Colonnello stayed under the typhoon-like rainstorm. "Are you going to leave?" Colonnello asked when the silence became too much.

There was a shift—he had startled Reborn. "...not yet. I still have a few things I want to get done around here. When I do leave, will you come with me?"

Colonnello's eyes widened behind his bangs before he shook his head. Reborn meant it. He _wanted_ Colonnello to come with him. It hurt to deny him but something told Colonnello that now was not the right time. "I can't."

Reborn didn't ask why. "Very well. You know how to find me if you need me." Reborn made sure to give him a direct line of communication before he left.

Before he was out of earshot, Colonnello looked back at him and smirked. Reborn's eyes widened a fraction as he heard what Colonnello told him and then he threw his head back and laughed.

"Idiot. Isn't the answer obvious?" Reborn said before he was gone. Colonnello stopped, cocking his head to the side.

Maybe there was still some hope.

"_Tell me, Reborn. When we meet again, will we serve under the same Sky?_"

_**Tsuzukeru.**_

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><p>There may be a lot of OCs but they all die eventually.<p> 


End file.
